Chapter 391: Gradual Return (3)
Zheng Ping laughed, "You make the death of a Mountainsea sound so simple. Even a first-stage Mountainsea cant be killed so easily! Also, these people are all grouped together. And they even have backers. How can I kill them as I wish? The Soul Devouring Art is not worth this price."
Su Yu nodded. With his arms around Xia Huyou, he bowed slightly and walked away with Xia Huyou.
Xia Huyou looked incomparably sullen.
Zheng Ping raised his brow, "So you're not selling anymore?"
"I'm still selling." Su Yu smiled, "Grandpa Zheng, I don't want to make things difficult for you so I'll be selling to someone else instead. Yunhui is my brother. I don't want to make things hard for his grandpa. I'll look for General Zhao instead. I believe the military needs an art like this."
Not far away, General Zhao raised his brow and said, "Those people are from the character faction. Killing even one of them will bring a lot of trouble. I'm not scared, but we still need cultural researchers in the army. Killing any of them might invite the hostility of the cultural researcher community toward the Martial Dragon Guards."
Su Yu nodded and said nothing else. He walked toward a different person instead.
His new target was the Martial Dragon War Academy's principal. The principal said, "The Martial Dragon War Academy is basically the reserve army of the Martial Dragon Guards. Since General Zhao is not accepting this task, I naturally can't do so as well."
Not far away, Administrator Hu said, "Student, a single Soul Devouring Art for the help of a Mountainsea against a Mountainsea cultural researcher with backers is basically an impossible deal to get."
He added, "Furthermore, this entire conflict involves more than the benefits of certain parties. We wouldn't have opened up this warzone otherwise. This is a debt left behind by the fifth principal. And your faction is bearing that debt. This is the crux of the issue."
Su Yu softly said, "I understand. Thank you for your advice, Grandpa Hu. But there is still one thing I don't understand. My great grandteacher was not the one who had killed the Invincible from Great Zhou. Why do we need to shoulder all the debt? We don't have the data they want. Had my great grandteacher promised his character to these people?"
Administrator Hu shook his head and said nothing else. There were things that couldn't be solved by words alone.
Su Yu looked around. The battle was still raging and the number of combatants was increasing.
Even Cloudbreach cultivators were starting to get involved. They were taking advantage of the fact that all the Mountainseas were occupied to approach Liu Wenyan.
While Su Yu was looking at Liu Wenyan, Liu Wenyan was also looking at him. With a smile, Liu Wenyan's lips moved.
"Go back."
This was not Su Yu's battle. This was not a battle he could participate in. Saving his teachers? Su Yu was too weak.
Suddenly, grief and indignation rose within Su Yu. Why was this happening? Was Great Xia really going to ignore this?
He looked at Marquis Xia. They were within the borders of Great Xia. Instead of a group of cultists, it was a group of cultural researchers killing another group of cultural researchers. Was Great Xia really ignoring this?
Disappointment welled within him. He was greatly disappointed. Just why? He saw Wu Yuehua bleeding. He saw the body of an expert protecting Teacher Liu exploding. They did not have enough Mountainseas on their side.
In the cover of the night, more and more combatants stepped forward and joined the battle. None of them said anything or introduced themselves. They merely fought silently.
Not far away, a smiling individual arrived while stepping on thin air. After cupping their hands at Liu Wenyan with a smile, that person entered the fight.
Someone gave Liu Wenyan a thumbs-up from faraway with a burning look in their eyes before joining the fight as well.
Su Yu knew that these were all the experts that had arrived to help his teacher. These were the people that had been waiting for Liu Wenyan's return all these years. Su Yu could only watch helplessly. He knew that he had likely failed in selling his Soul Devouring Art. These people were unwilling to participate in the fight.
The saying that warriors were brainless brutes was nothing but a joke. These people couldn't be fooled easily.
But Su Yu was unwilling to accept this.
In his agitation, Su Yu had tightened his grip on Xia Huyou without realizing it, causing Xia Huyou's shoulders to bruise. Xia Huyou scratched his head as he couldn't understand the reason for this choice as well. He looked at his second granduncle with an inquiring gaze. Were they really ignoring this?
More and more people joined the fight.
The Martial Dragon Guards had formed a complete encirclement of the warzone. The cultural researchers of the army silently released their willpower and sealed the area, preventing any shockwave from the battle to leave the warzone.
Xia Huyou gave Marquis Xia another look. Marquis Xia shook his head. They were still not doing anything.
They would wait.
They would keep waiting.
That was the marquis choice.
Sounds of explosions rang out repeatedly.
The two peak Mountainseas were also fighting at a place nobody could see. However, the shockwaves from their fight were clear for all to see. The shockwaves spread far and wide, causing mountains to collapse and rivers to run dry.
They were very powerful. And this was a shocking fight to behold.
However, Su Yu was unable to actually observe that battle. Nor was he in the mood to observe it. He was focused on Liu Wenyan. The people standing guard around Liu Wenyan were continuously reducing in number.
There was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly. The Soul Devouring Art was completely useless.
Su Yu looked around and saw that there were still a large number of people observing the battle in midair.
"For the price of a Soul Devouring Art manual, an art specializing in harming willpower, is anyone willing to help?"
In his desperation, Su Yu shouted at the observers. Nobody replied.
"Production method of ability blood essence on top of the Soul Devouring Art."
Some of them looked at him, but still, nobody replied.
With a hoarse voice, Su Yu roared, "A foundation cultural art on top of all that! A cultural art that can be cultivated below the Skysoar Realm with 36 apertures! Is anyone willing to make a move? Anyone?"
Those words shocked the various observers. Even Marquis Xia was looking at him now. Liu Wenyan was also looking at Su Yu in astonishment.
Su Yu howled, "Is nobody in Great Xia willing to help? How about those from the other prefectures? Since the Xia Family is ignoring this, they will also be unqualified to say anything if the experts of other prefectures get involved. Anyone?"
"Cultural art?" Finally, someone spoke, "Is it really a cultural art that can be cultivated below the Skysoar Realm? Does it really have 36 apertures?"
"Yes." Su Yu howled, "You only need to kill one Mountainsea and the manual is yours. Soul Devouring Art, ability blood essence production method, and foundation cultural art. All of them will be yours."
Su Yu continued roaring desperately, "Is this not enough? How about a heaven-grade manual?"
Even more gazes focused on him.
"Are you from the multiple character faction?"
"I am Su Yu. Direct student of Teacher Bai Feng. Is my price enough?" Su Yu roared, "If that's not enough"
"Enough. Are you going to give away everything your predecessors left for you?" Someone laughed, "Silly kid. Are you going to give away everything the multiple character faction has?"
"The silly kid was joking. Don't take him seriously, everyone. Our multiple character faction is so poor. How can we have all those things?"
A youth walked out of the darkness with a spear in hand. He smiled and said, "Stop messing around. Go back. He was joking, guys. We don't have all those things."
As the youth walked out, someone exclaimed, "Xia Yunji!"
Xia Yunji, one of the legends from the golden era, one of the freaks of the multiple character faction.
This Xia Yunji had a young appearance and a pale face. That face was filled with a wide smile. He looked at Su Yu and said, "A little child like you should stop messing around..."
He then casually stabbed his spear out and smiled, "Brother Wenyan, why have you returned so early? With me here, who can touch Brother Zhang's grave?"
Not far away, a spear punctured the chest of a Mountainsea.
Whoosh!
His entire body exploded from the strike. Xia Yunji smiled and pulled his spear back. His body flickered and reappeared somewhere else. His spear then swept out toward a seventh-stage Mountainsea.
Bang!
Space itself cracked.
The face of the seventh-stage Mountainsea changed. Just as he was about to dodge, a Divine Character appeared.
"Dragon!"
The character entered the spear, turning the spear into a dragon. Amid the night sky, a gigantic golden dragon appeared and swallowed the Mountainsea with one bite. The dragon turned back into a spear before returning to Xia Yunji's hand.
With the same smile on his face, Xia Yunji shook his spear. One could vaguely hear an expert roaring from within the spear. The expert constantly struck the spear from within, causing the spear to shake endlessly.
A clump of flame appeared in Xia Yunji's palm. With the flame, he burned the spear. A miserable wail rang out.
Xia Yunji cleared his throat, scanned his surroundings, and said, "Withdraw. I can't do anything if a Sunmoon is here. But without a Sunmoon, Zhou Mingren is not enough to stop me."
He looked at Su Yu once again and smiled, "Go back to the academy. Stop messing around. What do you think you're selling? You are not allowed to sell what your predecessors left behind. You will become a sinner if you do that."
Shock covered Su Yu's face.
An expert of the multiple character faction! This was one of the expelled students from back then. He had returned! Right that moment, a palm appeared behind Xia Yunji and shot toward him.
Shan Tianhao!
Xia Yunji frowned. But the shaking of his spear intensified right that moment, curbing his reaction.
At that exact moment, a gorgeous sword descended from the sky and headed straight toward Shan Tianhao. With a frown, Shan Tianhao hurriedly retreated and dodged the sword.
"Xia Yunji, you sure move fast."
The voice of a woman rang out. From the dark sky, a woman stepped forth. Wu Yuehua, who was busy fighting an expert, suddenly scolded, "Hu Ping! This must be intentional! You have deliberately arrived late to see me make a fool of myself!" The source of thɪs content is N()velFire.net
"Ridiculous. You're being completely unreasonable." The sword-wielding woman in the air snorted disdainfully, "See you make a fool of yourself? Your very existence is a joke in itself. Why should I even bother?"
"Bitch, just you wait! I'll settle the score with you after killing this bastard!"
She started going crazy, sending her massive cauldron everywhere. A massive cloud of black smoke also started coming out of her cauldron. The few unlucky Mountainseas that got in contact with the black smoke instantly found their bodies rotting away. The black smoke spread far and wide.
...
Xia Yunji and Hu Ping.
Two of the expelled students from back then had returned one after another. Su Yu was staring at the two blankly. Suddenly, he laughed. The multiple character faction had not run out of people, after all.
He hurriedly said, "Thank you, seniors. As for the other seniors, please forgive me. I was merely playing a joke earlier. Xia Huyou has yet to give me his cultural art. I won't be able to sell it even if I want to. Don't misunderstand me..."
"..."
Xia Huyou looked at Su Yu in stupefaction. What was this fellow talking about?
Numerous gazes landed on Xia Huyou. Some recognized him, and they were completely dumbstruck. This Su Yu...was trying to sell the Xia Family's cultural art?
Fuck!
Screw this kid! Was this kid telling the truth? Was he trying to screw all of them? If they had accepted that deal, none of them would live to see tomorrow. Who would dare to lay their hands on the Xia Family's cultural art?
Xia Huyou continued staring at Su Yu in stupefaction. This bastard had really figured out who he was! But what was up with that cultural art this fellow had mentioned? When had he agreed to sell his cultural art?
Su Yu expressionlessly pinched Xia Huyou's shoulders and said, "You have it. You really do."
Xia Huyou's eyes flickered before brightening up. Really? Ohhh! He finally understood what Su Yu was implying.
Fuck!
This fellow...actually had something like that in his possession?
Xia Huyou hurriedly laughed and said, "Seniors, don't mind us. I was intending to give Su Yu the art. It's normal between friends. Don't misunderstand. If any of you had really agreed to his deal earlier, I would definitely take the art out. Su Yu is my brother. He is my best friend. Cultural art is nothing compared to our brotherhood..."
Marquis Xia couldn't help but to look at Xia Huyou. Yes. He had one, but his version only opened 18 apertures. Also, why had he told Su Yu something like that? Had he gone mad? And he was even going to give Su Yu the art?
Xia Huyou smiled apologetically and pinched Su Yu before saying, "Forget it. I'm not giving you the art anymore. Are you dumb? I told you to sell it off secretly. Why were you shouting so loudly? Everyone knows about it now. Give it back to me first. My family is not going to be happy."
Su Yu shot Xia Huyou a glance. With a smile, he passed over a jade talisman. When Xia Huyou accepted the jade talisman, his hand was trembling. Holy shit! Was this real?
When he saw his second granduncle looking over, he awkwardly said, "It was a lie. I never intended to give the art away. I was only joking with him. Who knows he would take it seriously and even try selling it? Don't be angry!"
Marquis Xia looked at the two in astonishment. Just what was going on? Meanwhile, Xia Huyou was trembling with excitement. Holy shit. Was this really a cultural art? Where had Su Yu gotten something like this? Holy shit! If that was really a cultural art, then this would be a massive profit for him!
Pokkadrinker's Thoughts
Remember this desperation. Revenge will be so very sweet when it comes.
Chapter 392: More Changes (1)
Xia Huyou's face lit up with delight. He couldn't help but to look at Su Yu again. He was still in disbelief. Was this really a cultural art? But Su Yu was ignoring Xia Huyou. Instead, he was focused on the distant warzone. With the arrival of Xia Yunji and Hu Ping, two powerful combatants had joined the multiple character faction's camp.
High-tier Mountainseas!
Su Yu couldn't see through their exact cultivation levels, but he could see how several Mountainseas had been forced to retreat by the two.
The spear was ruling the battlefield like a dragon. After trapping a seventh-stage Mountainsea, Xia Yunji was giving another Mountainsea a terrible beating.
As for Hu Ping, she was faced with Shan Tianhao, a ninth-stage Mountainsea. She had been relatively silent. Her sword was brilliant and glorious, illuminating the night sky with her deadly sword qi.
The cultural weapons used by the two were definitely no ordinary weapons.
Su Yu could see traces of character techniques in the two weapons. Countless dots of light could be seen in those weapons. Both of them actually walked the path of offense.
"Huyou, can you tell me more about them?"
Su Yu wanted to know the identities of all these people. He knew too little and recognized very few of the Mountainseas present. As the son of the prefect, Xia Huyou knew almost all the Mountainseas in Great Xia. As for the ones he had never met before, he would have read about them as well.
Thus, he softly said, "You know Elder Wu Yuehua. The person she's beating up is Tang Yunfei from the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy."
"That person..."
Xia Huyou pointed at a sturdy middle-aged man. The valiant man was riding a fierce tiger with a massive halberd in hand. Similarly, he was giving his opponent a beating.
"The tiger rider is Elder He Ji from the beast taming faction. His opponent is Elder Qiu Yunhua of the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy."
"That person..."
Su Yu looked at the third person. It was an old man with countless talismans hovering around him. Some radiated intense chill, some radiated sharp sword qi, and some radiated destructive electrical currents.
"That is Elder Fan Jin of the talisman faction. He is also a supporter of your faction. His opponent is Elder Wang Ming from the Daoseeking Cultural Research Academy."
...
Xia Huyou introduced one expert after another. A lot of Mountainseas were present. These experts had come from all over the Human Realm.
The multiple character faction actually had a decent number of helpers. Just from the academy alone, there were four elders on their side. Excluding Hong Tan and company, there were three additional Mountainseas helping them. In total, seven Mountainseas from the academy were fighting on their side.
As for the combatants from the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy and Daoseeking Cultural Research Academy, most of them were here to help the single character faction. Thus, the single character faction still held the numerical advantage.
Over 20 Mountainseas had been gathered in this spot alone. The source of thɪs content is novel✶fire.net
"There's also Shan Tianhao, the faculty head of Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy's Character Faculty, a ninth-stage Mountainsea."
Xia Huyou gave a detailed introduction of Shan Tianhao, "He has a grandson. That grandson is the freak from Great Zhou that everyone has been talking about, the one who had entered the Skysoar Realm in only half a year. But his grandson does not have much to do with him. This grandson is the final student of Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy's principal, Zhou Polong. Zhou Polong was the one who had taught that grandson everything."
Su Yu nodded. He had long heard that the Great Zhou genius had a senior researcher as his grandfather. So this was the grandfather of that genius. He made sure to remember every single one of these people.
He asked, "Some of them do not seem to have any grudge with us. Why are they getting involved as well?"
"For benefits."
Yes. It was that simple.
Xia Huyou said, "Everyone wants to take a look at fifth principal's character. Everyone wants to get their hands on it. Additionally, with the stand Great Zhou is taking, some of these people are also here to fawn on Zhou Polong or some other benefits."
"Fawn on Zhou Polong?" Su Yu asked, "Are they not afraid of offending the Xia Family?"
Xia Huyou thought for a long while before softly saying,"No. Because the biggest backer of all cultural researchers is the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Let me put it this way. The Xia Family stands at the top in the path of warriors. Both Great Xia King and the prefect were people who had walked to the peak of the path of physical cultivation. But the Xia Family lacks influence in the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Vice Principal Xia Changqing and granduncle Xia Yunji are the top cultural researchers of the Xia Family."
Su Yu finally started to understand.
He asked, "So Great Zhou King is an expert from the Knowledge Seeking Realm?"
"Yeah." Xia Huyou nodded, "You finally understand. Great Zhou is the leader in the path of cultural research. Principal Zhou is also on the verge of entering the Invincible Realm. When that happens, he will become yet another big shot in the Knowledge Seeking Realm."
Su Yu was hit by a realization. No wonder. No wonder these people dared to participate in this conflict even when they were within the Xia Family's territory. That was because cultural researchers did not rely on the Xia Family.
It was the other way around. The Xia Family was the one needing to rely on cultural researchers. After all, the Devil Subduing Army and Martial Dragon Guards needed the participation of many cultural researchers.
"So the Xia Family can't control these people?"
"We can." Xia Huyou smiled, "We definitely can. You shouldn't look down on the Xia Family. But according to the agreement made with the community of cultural researchers back then, the Xia Family would generally give the cultural researchers a free rein as long as the cultural researchers are not in the military.
"After all, freedom is very important for cultural researchers. It is very normal for cultural researchers to be poached. We won't be able to do anything if they decide to jump ship to Great Zhou. Of course, it might not necessarily be very beneficial for one to leave their homeland for a different prefecture, so people won't really move unless there is a strong reason."
Su Yu nodded and stopped asking.
...
A thick killing intent covered the warzone.
In truth, people like Su Yu weren't really able to see what was going on inside. At most, they could only see some flashes here and there.
Liu Wenyan was still standing at the same spot. At this point, there was no longer any Mountainsea around him. Only a few recently arrived Cloudbreach cultivators were guarding him, looking around cautiously.
Liu Wenyan looked around before suddenly saying, "My answer is the same. I still can't materialize the character. Even if I can, only the descendants of the ones who had perished in the battle back then can see it. Nobody else can.
"Are you sure you want to dig up Zhang Ruoling's grave? I can move the grave to Nanyuan and stay away from the capital for life. Is this acceptable?"
"Can't materialize it?" Someone sneered, "Xia Yunji and Hu Peng are both here. And both of them are able to materialize their characters. Why are you the exception? Liu Wenyan, you're too selfish. The fifth principal's character does not belong to you alone. It belongs to everyone."
"Exactly. Back then, countless cultural researchers had perished while helping the fifth principal affirm his dao. You have insisted on monopolizing the character. It isn't like we have not given you any time. You have been given 50 years. Yet you are still giving these stupid excuses."
One Mountainsea after another berated Liu Wenyan.
Liu Wenyan calmly said, "Yes, the character does not belong to me alone. But...some of you are unqualified to say all these to me. The friends of my teacher that had perished back then did not have a lot of descendants. But there are so many of you here. Some claim to be a senior brother of one of them. Some claim to be a junior brother of one of them. But in truth, most of you are unrelated to any of them. You are unqualified to say these words."
"Those people are unqualified. How about me?" Someone else shouted, "Back then, my father perished while fighting alongside the fifth principal. Even the character he left behind was given to a so-called genius. But who knows if that was really my father's wish? He breathed his last among your people. Who knows if you people were telling the truth back then?"
Liu Wenyan knew who that person was. He sighed, "Brother Qi, back then, Uncle Qi was seriously injured. By the time we managed to notify you, he had already breathed his last. He couldn't afford to wait so he picked Liu Ran to inherit his character. And Liu Ran is already dead..."
The other person said, "I don't care! Liu Ran is dead and I won't lower myself to disturb his grave. My father's character can remain in his grave. I only want to know if I am qualified to take a look at the data left by my father back then? Just where is the data left by the fifth principal? The data said to contain the path to the Invincible Realm! Where is it? Back then, my father had put a lot of effort in the fifth principal's research as well. But not long after the results came out, my father had perished. Are you saying that after my father perished, the data no longer has anything to do with us?"
Liu Wenyan said, "My teacher had not left any data behind. Everyone who was present back then knows this. Only some unimportant and incomplete data was left behind. For example, the fusion of characters. That was why Hong Tan had subsequently released his research result on the fusion of characters into different systems. That is a research result that has been completed by Hong Tan himself."
Basically, all the data they had actually received from the fifth principal had already been shared with the public.
Character fusion was actually one of the most important research subjects today. And back then, Hong Tan had released the research result without hiding anything for himself. Eventually, the research had only been stopped because it was too difficult. A lot of people were aware of that.
"I don't believe that!" Someone shouted, "Earlier, Bai Feng displayed a method to split character techniques. Why hasn't this been disseminated before?"
"..."
Liu Wenyan frowned, "That was Bai Feng's own research. It has nothing to do with my teacher."
Sure enough, some of them had set their eyes on Bai Feng's research. Of all the things the fifth principal had left behind, they had already shared everything they could. Only the inherited character was left.
And now, these people were even trying to credit Bai Feng's research result to the fifth principal's inheritance. They were trying to snatch Bai Feng's research result without paying any price. Liu Wenyan was furious. He definitely wouldn't agree to that.
"Bai Feng's own research? What a joke. How many years has he been in the academy? I knew you guys can't be trusted!"
Right after that, multiple mountains appeared out of thin air before dropping down on Liu Wenyan. While the people around him resisted the mountains, Liu Wenyan raised his brow and suddenly palmed the ground below him.
A dark shadow exploded out of the ground. Not far away, the alarmed Wu Yuehua hurriedly sent her cauldron flying over. With a rumble, the shadow was smashed into pieces.
While the cauldron was returning, the distracted Wu Yuehua had her defenses penetrated by her opponent. An attack stabbed right through her shoulder.
Chapter 393: More Changes (2)
The battle was turning more and more intense.
Su Yu frowned and looked at Marquis Xia. Just what was this person thinking? More and more Mountainseas were involved. If some of them really ended up dying, this would be a great loss to Great Xia. Was he really not going to do anything about this?
Meanwhile, Administrator Hu and Marquis Xia were conversing softly. Nobody apart from them could hear their conversation.
"Marquis, what now?"
Marquis Xia stayed silent for a short while before saying, "Where's Zhao Mingyue?"
"Still on the way..."
"Let Old Zhao tell his little sister to retreat with Liu Wenyan when she arrives and return to Nanyuan."
"Marquis..."
Administrator Hu looked at the marquis for a while. The look in his eyes changed slightly as he nodded. Shortly after, General Zhao frowned, looking like he had just heard something. He nodded and vanished into thin air.
...
The battle raged on.
Suddenly, someone appeared in the sky. The moment the newcomer arrived, someone shouted, "It's Zhao Mingyue! Stop her!"
"Fuck off."
A shout rang out in the air. Before Su Yu could see the newcomer, a massive staff swung down from the sky. With a bang, a Mountainsea was sent flying away. Then, a heroic woman landed on the ground. She had a murderous look in her eyes. She wasted no time talking and rushed straight toward Liu Wenyan.
The other Mountainseas tried to stop her but they were all kept occupied by the Mountainseas from the multiple character faction's side.
"Why are you still staying here? Come with me!"
Zhao Mingyue then started dragging Liu Wenyan away. Not far away, Wu Yuehua cursed under her breath. But she did nothing to stop them. She also agreed that it was time for Liu Wenyan to leave. A mishap might happen way too easily if he remained in the warzone.
Xia Yunji and the others also shouted to him, "Wenyan, leave first. With us here, none of them will be able to touch Ruoling's grave!"
"Stop them!"
A few Mountainseas shouted in alarm. If Liu Wenyan was allowed to leave the warzone, everything these experts had done until this point would have been for nothing. This time, the Xia Family had even opened a warzone for them to settle their dispute within the capital itself. This was an extremely rare chance for them.
Any other time, they would all have a lot of reservations when fighting. A fight was not too bad, but the moment someone was killed, the Xia Family would be dragged in. But today, the Xia Family had granted them the freedom to kill within the warzone. Thus, this was their best opportunity to capture or even kill Liu Wenyan.
While Zhao Mingyue was leaving with Liu Wenyan, a sigh rang out. Then, a massive banner that covered the sky itself appeared.
"Liu Wenyan, you should stay."
Zhao Mingyue frowned and shouted furiously, "Jin Yuhui, you dare obstruct us?" Content orıginally comes from novel⦿fire.net
That was the principal of the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy.
"Mingyue, all of you can leave except Liu Wenyan. Either that or you need to leave the character behind..."
An aged voice rang out from the sky. The Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy's principal had made a move.
This was someone standing at the very peak of the Mountainsea Realm. Some people even suspected that he had entered the Sunmoon Realm and was merely keeping it a secret like Wan Tiansheng.
In Great Xia, Wan Tiansheng was known as the strongest cultural researcher. Right after him was the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy's principal, the second strongest cultural researcher.
As for people like Director Ji, they weren't really cultural researchers. Sure, they knew some willpower tricks, but they were still mostly focused on physical cultivation.
Liu Wenyan had been silent even when Zhao Mingyue was dragging him away. But suddenly, he raged, "Jin Yuhui! On what basis are you involving yourself in this? Our faction owes you nothing! It is the other way around! You have shamelessly taken the character fusion technique we developed and claimed to be one of the actual creators of the technique! Are you not ashamed of yourself?"
"Talk is meaningless."
Jin Yuhui did not even try to argue. He brandished his banner and sent it down at them.
"Break!"
With a roar, Zhao Mingyue shot up into the sky and struck the banner with her staff. The collision caused the world around them to shake while a loud rumble reverberated throughout the area.
The banner trembled slightly before fusing with several characters. The characters stabilized the banner, allowing it to keep pushing downward. Zhao Mingyue roared and clashed against the banner yet again. However, her opponent was too strong. She wasn't able to stop the banner. The moment the banner reached the ground, Liu Wenyan would be captured.
"Die!"
Zhao Mingyue roared furiously as a blinding radiance erupted from her staff. At the same time, a spear, a sword, and a cauldron shot toward the banner as well.
Even further away, Hong Tan, who was in the midst of fighting against Zhou Mingren, roared, "Jin Yuhui, you are courting death!"
Suddenly, Hong Tan's body enlarged. A massive giant appeared before everyone's eyes. The giant was holding a shield in front of his chest with his left hand. His right hand was holding a sword. He first blocked Zhou Mingren's attack with his shining shield before rushing toward the banner. With a swing, his sword qi swept through a distance of several kilometers ahead of him.
Crash!
The sword qi struck the banner and tore it apart.
"Cough..."
A cough sounded in the air. Jin Yuhui sighed, "Hong Tan, you have indeed hidden your strength..."
Right that moment, Zhou Mingren roared. Hong Tan was about to take another step forward when countless stone pillars appeared around him, trapping him inside.
With a frown, Zhou Mingren said, "Hong Tan, our fight has yet to end. Don't get distracted."
"Old dog, you're courting death!"
Hong Tan was furious. He pounded on one of the pillars with his shield. At the same time, he swung his sword, cutting several stone pillars down. Zhou Mingren did not mind. Suddenly, the world outside the pillars turned into a massive sea. Towering waves appeared and crashed down on Hong Tan.
...
At this time, Su Yu approached Zheng Ping again and softly said, "Grandpa Zheng, the battle is so intense. Are you not going to share your thoughts about it?"
Zheng Ping had an odd look on his face. Share his thoughts? This kid was clearly confused by what he was seeing and was trying to fish for information. This was quite a shameless kid.
But since he was quite free, Zheng Ping did not mind. He said, "The newcomer is Jin Yuhui, the principal of the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy. He is a peak Mountainsea. Or to be precise, he is pseudo Sunmoon. Of the people present, the three strongest individuals are Hong Tan, Jin Yuhui, and Zhou Mingren. All three of them are pseudo Sunmoons."
"The sword and shield in Hong Tan's hands are his character technique. Zhou Mingren has eight characters. The pillars were formed by his stone character. This sea was generated by his wave character. But none of the two are his main Divine Character. His main Divine Character is the sun character. The moment this character appears, it would signify that the fight has reached its climax."
Su Yu asked, "Why did Jin Yuhui involve himself in this?"
"That's a grudge from the previous generation. When the fifth principal was around, Jin Yuhui was suppressed too badly. And this fellow has been studying the fusion of characters for many years. Previously, your faction released the results of your research on character fusion before ending the project. Jin Yuhui is very interested in that topic. Since the fifth principal's character might contain the secrets of character fusion, it is not surprising that he is getting involved as well."
Su Yu nodded, "Grandpa Zheng, Teacher Liu Wenyan had the chance to leave earlier. Why had he not left? Would he be fine as long as he can leave the warzone?"
"Leaving?" Zheng Ping shook his head, "That is no longer possible after he left Nanyuan. In truth, Nanyuan is a cage for him. By leaving the cage, he regains his freedom. But at the same time, he loses his protection. During the past 50 years when he had stayed in Nanyuan, barely anyone had dared to create trouble for him there.
"But it has been 50 years. The patience of many people is running thin. Thus, his only options after leaving Nanyuan are handing over the character or crushing the greed of these people. Otherwise, returning to his peaceful life would be impossible."
Su Yu frowned. He looked at Liu Wenyan who was standing under the banner. Zhao Mingyue and the others were strong, but they still weren't Jin Yuhui's match.
"What's the cultivation of Senior Xia Yunji and the others?"
"Around seventh-stage Mountainsea."
Zheng Ping had sharp eyes. He said, "If they really use all their strength, they could probably display the strength of a ninth-stage Mountainsea. But I have a feeling that there are still some issues with their characters. They won't be able to keep fighting for long. They have not fully assimilated their inherited characters."
He then sighed, "It really is not worth inheriting these characters, after all. Without these characters, these fellows would have been able to reach the seventh-stage Mountainsea Realm at the minimum by now relying only on themselves. In fact, those inherited characters would only be worth it if they are already Sunmoons right now."
Five decades were more than enough for these people to reach their current levels of cultivation relying on their talents alone. Thus, inheriting those characters back then had been a wrong choice.
"Back then, the inherited characters were meant to help them rapidly reach the Sunmoon Realm, not keep them at the Mental Tempering Stage for 50 years. There really are a lot of issues with this plan. What a pity."
Zheng Ping sighed regretfully. But he didn't really care too much about this. This was how cultural researchers had always been. For the sake of testing a single theory, they were willing to sacrifice countless energy and resources. They could blame no one if they ended up failing.
Clearly, this plan with the inherited characters had failed. And it was truly regretful as even today, a lot of people were still eagerly waiting for the result of that experiment.
Yes, Zhao Mingyue and the others had returned. But they were only Mountainseas with unstable combat strength. If this was the result of this plan, then there was no longer any need for anyone else to carry out such inheritances in the future.
Su Yu was also feeling regretful. They had failed to enter the Sunmoon Realm, wasting 50 years of time. Back then, every single one of these geniuses were stronger than Hong Tan. But now, Hong Tan had instead become the strongest. For the sake of this plan, these people had suffered the blame of numerous people and countless humiliation for 50 years. It was really not worth it.
And many of the students who had been picked for the plan had already passed away in obscurity. For example, Zhang Ruoling, the person who was buried here.
Su Yu couldn't allow himself to keep brooding. He hurriedly said, "What are they going to do after capturing Teacher Liu? Are they going to kill him?"
"Since Liu Wenyan is not materializing the character for them, it is hard to say what these people will do..."
Su Yu said, "Grandpa Zheng, are none of you disappointed with Great Xia's decision?"
Zheng Ping helplessly said, "Let me put it this way. Strictly speaking, we are all the soldiers of the Xia Family. And if they are not interfering, then we have to follow their lead. I do sympathize with you, but I can't help you guys. This is the same for Old Zhao and Old Hu as well. Each of them have a family member involved in the conflict. Do you think they don't care?"
Chapter 394: More Changes (3)
Zheng Ping sighed, "Hu Ping and Zhao Mingyue are family. They care about this more than anyone. But without Marquis Xia's order, we can't interfere."
"If you can't even protect your family, who can you protect? In that case, you guys might as well withdraw from the Allheaven Battlefield."
"This..." Zheng Ping did not know what to do. He awkwardly said, "If my family is involved, I would definitely interfere. I can't do anything if those two are too cowardly to do anything. Since my family isn't actually involved, it would be pointless for me to work so hard and engage these people in such a fierce battle, right?"
Upon hearing that, Su Yu felt somewhat regretful. If he had known about this earlier, he would have instigated Zheng Yunhui to come with him. Then again, that might be too dangerous. A single Mental Tempering Stage student would probably end up dead right after stepping into the warzone.
Both General Zhao and Administrator Hu remained silent.
But both were looking at Marquis Xia. When Marquis Xia sensed their gazes, he smiled, "There's no rush. Let Jin Yuhui force them for a bit. Let's see if they still have any other trump cards."
The two looked at each other and could only nod. Marquis Xia turned his head to look in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy's direction. Just what was Wan Tiansheng doing right now?
...
The banner continued dropping. Zhao Mingyue was already at her limits. She was coughing blood as the banner continued pushing herself downward. Not far away, Hong Tan, who had turned into a giant, had an unsightly expression.
"Zhou Mingren, I only sparred with you earlier out of respect for you. Are you sure you want to obstruct me now?"
"You can naturally leave after winning."
At that moment, a bright sun rose into the sky and shone upon Hong Tan. At contact with the sunlight, Hong Tan's shield started melting away.
"You guys only want to see if I have any information related to the advancement into the Invincible Realm from my teacher. Let me tell you. I don't have the information. Nor do I need it. The path of our predecessors is only good as a point of reference. Do you think you can step into the Invincible Realm walking the path of others? Zhou Mingren, don't regret this!"
Whoosh!
With a howl, Hong Tan started merging his sword and shield.
"You guys want to see my trump card, right? Sure. Have a good look! Fuse!"
With that, the two items finished their fusion. A wave of incomparably powerful willpower erupted from Hong Tan's body.
"Since you're courting death, I'll gladly deliver!"
His new weapon was a gigantic broadsword. With the brightly shining sword in hand, he swung it. The sword flickered and the air rumbled. Before the sword even finished descending, the sun above him broke into pieces. After coughing a mouthful of blood from the backlash, Zhou Mingren hurriedly withdrew the remaining pieces of his sun. That was actually his main Divine Character.
The stone pillars had been crushed. The waves had been obliterated.
It was as though the sky was collapsing and the earth was rending.
"Jin Yuhui, you are courting death!"
Ignoring the escaping Zhou Mingren, Hong Tan streaked toward Jin Yuhui and swung his sword.
Crash!
A loud boom reverberated throughout the area as the sword swept through the night sky. The banner instantly vanished before reappearing in the hand of an old man. Floating amid the night sky, the old man hurriedly brandished his banner to block the sword attack that was heading toward him. But the moment the attack arrived, the banner broke apart.
The old man was pushed a few kilometers away, his body dyed red in blood. Still in his giant form, Hong Tan moved forward before swinging his sword again.
With an unsightly expression, Jin Yuhui hollered, "Zhou Mingren, let's fight together!"
Zhou Mingren flew over from afar with a sun and a moon manifested in his hand. Upon arriving, he pushed his palm forward.
"Fuck off, garbage!"
Hong Tan merely swept his sword over to send Zhou Mingren flying away. After dealing with Zhou Mingren, Hong Tan stomped his foot down on Jin Yuhui.
"Sunmoon?"
A lot of people exclaimed in alarm. Had Hong Tan entered the Sunmoon Realm? Was that really the case?
"No, but he's only a step away from that realm..."
Shan Tianhao hurriedly shouted his observation.
"Move, take Liu Wenyan!"
Shan Tianhao then charged toward Liu Wenyan. Zhao Mingyue and the others had sustained heavy injuries. They all tried to stop Shan Tianhao with furious roars, but they weren't able to stop him as he was a ninth-stage Mountainsea. Liu Wenyan, who was standing behind everyone, frowned.
"So no Sunmoons have arrived, after all?"
Liu Wenyan muttered to himself. He then looked at the distant Marquis Xia. Was Marquis Xia also waiting for him to make his move? Had the marquis been investigating him all these years as well?
If he made his move, would someone new appear? Which Sunmoon would appear? If the Sunmoon was going to keep hiding, then he would need to start leaving.
"Let's go!" Liu Wenyan suddenly said, "Yunji, you guys stop them. I'll leave first. You guys will have to be the ones to protect Ruoling's grave. I'll return to Nanyuan first. Remember to visit me in Nanyuan."
"Sure!" Zhao Mingyue then shouted, "Wu Yuehua, what are you waiting for? Escort him away!"
Wu Yuehua merely gave her a glare. After pushing her current opponent away with a cauldron strike, she landed on the ground and grabbed Liu Wenyan before flying away.
Someone shouted, "Liu Wenyan, if you really leave today, you will never be able to settle this debt!" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ noⅴelfire.net
Liu Wenyan did not answer.
While both Zhou Mingren and Jin Yuhui were blocking Hong Tan with great difficulty, Zhou Mingren shouted, "Liu Wenyan, the character will remain a source of calamity if you keep it. Are you going to bring the multiple character faction more troubles after all the suffering they have gone through all these years?"
"..."
Liu Wenyan remained silent. He was already on the verge of leaving the warzone. And the moment he stepped out, the battle today would come to an end. They had already paid a large price to force Liu Wenyan to come here today.
Right as Wu Yuehua was about to take the final step out of the warzone with Liu Wenyan, a massive hand appeared in the sky and descended upon them. With a furious bellow, Wu Yuehua sent her cauldron out. But the cauldron was easily slapped aside. Cracks could be seen on its surface. It had actually been damaged.
She was an eighth-stage Mountainsea yet her cultural weapon had been damaged with one hit!
"Sunmoon?" Wu Yuehua was alarmed, "Who is this?"
The newcomer remained hidden in the darkness. No words were said as the hand continued descending toward Liu Wenyan. Not far away, Marquis Xia stood up. His eyes were solemn. An actual Sunmoon was finally making a move. This was a true Sunmoon, not a fresh Sunmoon or a pseudo Sunmoon.
"Bastard!"
Wu Yuehua grabbed Liu Wenyan in preparation to throw him out of the warzone. She recalled her cauldron and was about to fight with her life on the line when Liu Wenyan grabbed her hand, stopping her from throwing him out.
"You..."
Wu Yuehua was furious. Why was this fool still refusing to leave? A true Sunmoon had arrived!
Not far away, Hong Tan roared as he attacked his two opponents madly, causing the two to suffer even more injuries.
"How dare you! I'll kill you!"
Regardless of his fury, Hong Tan was too far away to help. The massive palm was getting nearer and nearer to Liu Wenyan. In her desperation, Wu Yuehua fused her apertures and brandished her cauldron as she got ready to face the Sunmoon with all her strength.
Once again, Liu Wenyan grabbed her hand and stopped her. He sighed, "Don't court death..."
He then looked at the palm and said, "I've been waiting for you."
Immediately after, his sea of willpower shook violently. Then, an axe appeared in his hand. Yes. It was an axe. The axe looked completely inconspicuous. But the moment it appeared, silence enveloped the area.
Looking at the axe, Liu Wenyan had a wistful look as he said, "It has been way too long...I have almost forgotten that...I am Liu Wenyan!"
He looked up at the sky and smiled, "I suppose you would do."
"Kill!"
The roar reverberated throughout the area.
Instantly, the axe in his hand shone with a glorious radiance. The axe easily cleaved through the massive palm, causing blood to spill. The moment the axe moved, its presence seemed to envelop the entire world.
Outside the warzone, Su Yu was completely shocked.
At that very moment, all the Mountainseas and all the battles between them faded into the background. That axe was the only thing that existed in the world.
"Liu Wenyan!"
A sigh rang out in the sky. Then, a bright moon appeared and descended upon the axe. A loud pop sounded. Instantly, the bright moon broke apart.
"Spurttt!"
Blood flowed. The same voice muttered, "The aura of an Invincible...you...have succeeded in your assimilation..."
"Cut!"
Liu Wenyan said nothing. With another roar, he swung his axe at the dark sky. At that very moment, Liu Wenyan was incomparably powerful. A Sunmoon had been beaten back by him with one attack. Slowly, darkness was replaced by light and a silhouette appeared in the sky.
Marquis Xia stared at the silhouette with a pair of burning eyes. He then looked at Administrator Hu. At that, Administrator Hu's back turned perfectly straight.
At the same time, the faint aura of an Invincible appeared from Liu Wenyan's body and swept through his surroundings. Su Yu could only feel a massive weight pressing down on him, forcing him to lie sprawled on the ground. This was not a force he could resist.
Nor was he trying to resist it. This was his teacher. There was no shame in bowing to his own teacher. But he couldn't hide his shock. Was Teacher Liu really so strong?
"Break!"
With a rumble, the newly appeared silhouette broke apart. Liu Wenyan's expression changed.
"It's a fake!"
Right where the silhouette had broken apart, a Divine Character appeared. The character hurriedly exploded.
This was a character clone! It was not a real person! Someone had produced a fake Sunmoon with a character! Yet this fake Sunmoon was comparable in strength with a true Sunmoon!
Right that moment, the air behind Liu Wenyan split and a finger shot out, aiming straight for his head.
At the same time.
The group observers who had done nothing so far suddenly shot forward.
The refined and gentle Administrator Hu seemed to have transformed into an ancient fiend. His vitality surged as he streaked forward with a roar and vanished into thin air. After exchanging a move with the unseen opponent, he reappeared beside Liu Wenyan and crushed the incoming finger.
"Another fake!"
Administrator Hu shouted. Not far away, General Zhao, who was publicly known as a peak Mountainsea, was also displaying an astonishing level of strength. Right after Administrator Hu spoke, General Zhao brandished his spear and pierced through the very sky itself. Space itself seemed to shatter, revealing a silhouette hidden within the void.
"So all of you have been waiting for me?"
The silhouette laughed with indifference. He already knew that these people were waiting for him. He reached out and grabbed General Zhao's spear. In the sky, five resplendent suns appeared.
Fifth-stage Sunmoon!
This General Zhao that everyone believed to be a Mountainsea was actually a fifth-stage Sunmoon! The spear merged with the suns and stabbed at the silhouette yet again.
Crash!
The space around the silhouette started collapsing, but the silhouette did not care. Instead, he reached out toward Liu Wenyan yet again. Administrator Hu streaked over and attacked the incoming palm.
At that moment, Liu Wenyan roared before swinging his axe at the sky. Once again, space split open, allowing a punch to fly out of the crack in the air.
"What an overwhelming force." Marquis Xia sighed, "For the sake of killing him, you have truly gone through a lot of trouble."
The axe and the fist met, creating a resplendent shockwave around them.
After taking the final bite at the watermelon in his hand, Marquis Xia grinned, "I have been waiting for you. What a surprise. You have actually decided to show up. Are you finally running out of patience?"
Before he had even finished speaking, his body had started to fade away. That was actually an afterimage. Before anyone could see anything, a fat old man appeared in the sky. He caught the fist and punched the space in front of him apart before stepping into the resulting crack in the air.
"Since you're already here, don't leave. Old Hu, Old Zhao, move faster. That's an Eternal character. Don't destroy it. Capture it. I want to see just who this person is."
"Yes, sir!"
The two Sunmoons replied. Rumbling sounds rang out unceasingly. The two experts were no longer hiding their strength. In fact, the refined Administrator Hu looked even stronger than the valiant General Zhao. His palm enlarged infinitely, blanketing the sky before grabbing at the silhouette in the sky.
"Capturing me?"
The silhouette laughed. A Divine Character appeared with a loud rumble before exploding. Administrator Hu's palm was blasted apart alongside the character clone. With a frown, Administrator Hu collected the broken pieces of the character instead.
Alongside the destruction of the character, the surrounding area was completely flooded with willpower. The intent of the destroyed Divine Character also remained in the area. An Eternal character had been destroyed.
The stunned Su Yu could no longer spare any thought on anything else. He hurriedly started absorbing the character intent in the air with his own characters. At the same time, he was also absorbing the ambient willpower flooding the area. Every single one of his apertures opened wide.
He didn't have the time to think about what had happened. He only knew that something major had happened. In the blink of an eye, two Eternal characters had been destroyed. Liu Wenyan had destroyed one while Administrator Hu and the others had destroyed the second.
What was going on?
Who was that?
Which Invincible was that?
Meanwhile, Marquis Xia could no longer be seen. Only the constant booming sounds coming from the sky and Marquis Xia's roars could be heard.
...
At the same time.
Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
Wan Tiansheng's eyes were shining, as though he was looking at something. After a long while, he frowned, "That's not him. It's a fake as well. He's not here at all. That stupid fatty has alerted the enemy with this move."
He cursed.
Wan Tiansheng was furious. He was certain that the damn fatty had never intended to capture that person in the first place. The fatty had been aiming to scare off that person all along.
"Damn that bastard! So what if it's an Invincible? Even an Invincible can be killed if he deserves it!"
He knew what Marquis Xia was thinking, but he was very unhappy. He was furious. But soon, he inhaled deeply and sat back down. There was no rush. He could wait longer. If it didn't work this time, there would be a next time.
Since that person had decided to make a move this time, then that person would definitely be making more moves in the future. Even from this incident alone, Wan Tiansheng had managed to see something.
Several faces appeared in his mind. Only these people were left. And one of them was the person he had been looking for!
"Im closing in on you! Don't even think of hiding from me!"
A sun and a moon appeared in his eyes as he stared far into the distance. Slowly, an illusory figure took form in his mind. Alas, the face of that figure was still blurry. And the aura of that figure was still unstable. Wan Tiansheng was furious. This was not enough. That person was too cunning.
"I'll be waiting for you to make another move."
After another deep inhalation, Wan Tiansheng shut his eyes. He could afford to wait longer.
Chapter 395: Fishing In Troubled Waters (1)
Wan Tiansheng was furious, but he decided to continue biding his time. At this time, a crack appeared in the sky and Marquis Xia flew out of it with someone in hand. No, that wasn't a person in his hand.
It was a Divine Character that was constantly switching between the character and the human forms. Marquis Xia's palm acted like a millstone that constantly suppressed the character.
The rapidly changing character merely laughed, "Xia Xiao'er (Little Two), you sure have concealed yourself deeply. Eighth-stage Sunmoon Realm? What a surprise."
Marquis Xia, who had been smiling warmly earlier, suddenly raged. It almost felt like his fury could immolate the entire world. He hurriedly waved his hand to form a barrier around him, afraid that someone else would hear his real name.
"You damn bastard. You dare to address me by my name? You're dead!"
Marquis Xia was furious.
Yes. His real name was Xia Xiao'er. His unreliable father, the same person who had given his greatest technique the Sky Sundering Countless Saber, was most certainly not a father capable of giving his own son a decent name. Thus, Xia Xiao'er could only address himself as Marquis Xia.
"Dead?"
The illusory figure laughed as it started breaking apart. "I know you guys are trying to bait me out. But...who am I? There are too many Invincibles in the War Shrine and the Knowledge Seeking Realm. I am only one of them. And this is only a single character. My main body is not here. Go ahead and search for me! Hahaha!"
Go ahead and search. Would they even dare to investigate the two holy lands? Could they even find anything? No!
This wasn't the first time someone had suspected that there was a traitor among human Invincibles. But the Divine Characters one possessed had always been an important secret of every cultivator that would not be easily leaked. And most Invincibles cultivated both the willpower and physical paths. Thus, even the warriors in the War Shrine were owners of numerous Divine Characters. How were they supposed to find him based on a character?
Who could even investigate all these Invincibles? Who knew which Invincible had recently lost some characters? Who knew the number of characters each Invincible had?
The figure laughed and said, "Xia Xiao'er, do you know why none of those people are here? Because it's pointless. It will only cause them to lose trust with each other. It is better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Since I am only targeting the multiple character faction instead of the entire human race, those people find no reason to act unless they know for sure who I am. What if I'm doing this because of my personal grudge with that guy? He is already dead. Am I, a living Invincible, less valuable than a dead pseudo Invincible?"
Marquis Xia had an unsightly expression. Yes. That was the thought of the Invincibles. Not one or two of them thought so. Many of them shared the same view. Over these years, this traitor had only plotted against those from the multiple character faction. Nobody knew who he was, but he had never acted against anyone else.
Find out who he was? How? There was no way to find out his identity. If even Hong Tan could guess that there was a traitor among the Invincibles, how could the other Invincibles not guess the same?
Alas, there were too many Invincibles around. And the only way to find the true culprit was to have every Invincible open their sea of willpower wide for the investigator to examine. But that was impossible. Nobody would agree to that. And only several character clones had arrived today. The actual Invincible himself had not arrived.
Marquis Xia coldly said, "Don't be too confident. Do you think we really can't dig you out? Just wait. My old man has long discovered some clues. Since you have actually sent your character clones into Great Xia this time, you won't be able to keep eluding us." For origınal chapters go to N0veI.Fiɾe.net
"Elude?" The figure said, "Why should I bother? What is your proof? Are you going to arrest an Invincible and have him killed without proper proof? Are all human Invincibles supposed to just bend over and let Great Xia King behead them as he wishes? How about this? Kill Liu Wenyan and I will cease all actions."
"Fuck you!" Marquis Xia cursed and clenched his teeth furiously, "Did you steal the things left behind by the fifth principal?"
"Hahaha. Don't you already know the answer?"
"Damn you!"
Marquis Xia was furious. Sure enough!
"So it was really you! Back then, my old man said that the fifth principal had personally said that he had left some things behind before his death. It doesn't make sense that nothing was found among the fifth principal's possessions. And it also doesn't make sense that Hong Tan and the others would hide those things. So it was really you. Damn you!"
Marquis Xia was furious, but he quickly calmed down and asked, "Why? You are already an Invincible. Has the human race mistreated you? Is your father not a human? Why must you betray humanity?"
"Betraying humanity?" At that point, only a small part of the clone remained. "Have I betrayed humanity? I have been fighting against the enemies of humanity on the Allheaven Battlefield like the other Invincibles! I too am protecting the Human Realm! I merely hated that fellow. There was a grudge between us. I was simply pursuing my vengeance against him. What is the problem with that? It is a common occurrence for one to use the Allheaven Battlefield as the tool to eliminate one's enemies. Am I wrong?
"Am I suddenly a traitor of humanity just because I have killed a genius? Xia Xiao'er, stop this selfless and impartial act. Even your old man had killed his human enemies on the Allheaven Battlefield back then. If he could do something like that, why couldn't I do the same?"
Marquis Xia coldly said, "Bullshit! The only humans my old man has ever killed are the members of the Myriad Race Cult!"
"Exactly." The clone laughed, "In that case, can't your beloved fifth principal be a cultist as well? Xia Xiao'er, you're too naive. Can't he be a cultist? Do you think that he has never cooperated with the cult before? You have only chosen to believe what you wish to believe. The fifth principal, the hope of all human cultural researchers...is he really a good person? Is it really not possible that someone like him might actually be a traitor of humanity?"
The clone roared with laughter.
And finally, the final bit of the clone crumbled apart, ending the self-destruct process. Only some words were left drifting in the air, "Don't overestimate the so-called fifth principal. Even without me, he would still have failed his advancement 50 years ago.
"This is my final advice to you. Stop investigating. There is no need. This is the last time I'll make a move. If you keep investigating, you will only shake the unity and trust between the Invincibles. At that time, the Human Realm might really fall."
"Damn you!"
Marquis Xia was furious. In fact, that was exactly the reason the Xia Family had been remaining silent despite knowing some things.
Then, he removed the barrier around him and roared, "Damn you, sect master of First Divine Sect. Very well. I will be waiting for you to visit Great Xia in person. Stop hiding behind clones, you coward."
"..."
He followed that with another furious roar, "Martial Dragon Guards, heed my order. Sally out and wipe out all the Myriad Race Cult strongholds in Great Xia."
"Yes, sir!"
Team after team of Martial Dragon Guards departed with ferocious howls.
At the same moment, outside the Great Xia City, a bright saber appeared, illuminating the entire city.
Rumble!
In the sky, a moon rose up before shattering. Countless people looked over. All they could see was the fading saber.
Beside Su Yu, Zheng Ping exclaimed in surprise, "Who...did the prefect kill?"
A Sunmoon had just perished. Marquis Xia soared into the sky and scanned his surroundings. Abruptly, he roared, "The Blood Fire Sect master has just been killed. Serves him right. The Myriad Race Cult is truly audacious. They are actually trying to fish in troubled waters?"
Zheng Ping was alarmed. The Blood Fire Sect master was actually hiding near them? But he was truly unlucky to have attracted the attention of Xia Longwu. He was directly killed with a single slash of the prefect's saber.
Xia Longwu himself had not appeared. All everyone could see was that one slash. Meanwhile, the Martial Dragon Guards continued moving in all directions.
...
In the air, Liu Wenyan did not say a single word.
Looking at the distant Marquis Xia, an odd look appeared in his eyes. Suddenly, he swung his axe to his side. A loud pop sounded.
Shan Tianhao was instantly cut into two. Marquis Xia hurriedly raised his hand and hesitated to speak. But Liu Wenyan did not give the marquis a chance to speak and swung his axe again.
Boom!
Shan Tianhao's body was obliterated while all his Divine Characters shattered.
Only then did Liu Wenyan softly say, "He has been running his mouth for way too long. I still have to show some restraint out of respect for Great Xia for the locals. But since he is not someone from Great Xia, there is no need for restraint. I have been waiting to kill a Sunmoon. But it turns out the Sunmoon is actually a fake. What a pity."
He then looked at the distant Marquis Xia and smiled, "Fatty Xia, out of respect for you, I have spared these locals. But you don't expect me to hold back against these outsiders as well, right?"
As he spoke, he casually strode through thin air before swinging his axe again. A Mountainsea was about to flee when instantly, the air around him crumbled while his body exploded. He had been killed with one hit.
At that point, Liu Wenyan's face finally paled somewhat. He continued walking on thin air while sighing, "Looks like I won't be able to further investigate some matters anymore. And it looks like the hope I placed on your Xia Family was misplaced."
Marquis Xia was furious, "Misplaced hope? Without the Xia Family's protection, do you think you could have survived until today? Do you think your destroyed Liu Family can still protect you? During your stay in Nanyuan, my old man has spent a total of eight years personally guarding you there! If you're not going to thank us for that, just shut your mouth. Why are you still complaining?"
Liu Wenyan ignored the marquis. All around him, the Mountainseas were fleeing. Even a ninth-stage Mountainsea like Shan Tianhao had been killed with one hit. They naturally wouldn't dare to keep staying in the warzone. They had witnessed far too many shocking scenes today.
Not far away, Zhou Mingren frowned and said, "Liu Wenyan, you're already an arrow at the end of its flight. Do you really want to use your life to take another life?"
Liu Wenyan looked at Zhou Mingren and smiled, "Old Zhou, if you could reach the Sunmoon Realm, I would naturally fail to kill you. Today, nothing can stop me from swinging my axe at you once. I don't care if you have an agreement with the Xia Family. The only thing that matters is the fact that you are here to dig up Zhang Ruoling's grave. You uttered those words yourself."
To the side, Jin Yuhui was still receiving a beating from Hong Tan. At this point, his body was already badly damaged and even several of his characters had been destroyed. When he saw that, he hurriedly shouted, "Liu Wenyan, let me take this attack of yours!"
"Screw you!"
Hong Tan cursed in rage. This guy was trying to use this as an excuse to escape him when he was clearly winning. Dream on!
Liu Wenyan had crushed an Eternal character for this strength of his. After killing Shan Tianhao and a different Mountainsea, he was already like an arrow at the end of its flight. Thus, he was naturally no longer capable of killing a pseudo Sunmoon like Jin Yuhui.
Therefore, Jin Yuhui was clearly trying to take this opportunity to escape. Hong Tan swept his sword forward, completely destroying Jin Yuhui's banner. At this point, Jin Yuhui was finally starting to get desperate. A Divine Character appeared, instantly filling the sky with a sea of blood.
"Hong Tan, do you really think you're stronger than me?"
Jin Yuhui roared furiously.
Chapter 396: Fishing In Troubled Waters (2)
At the same time, multiple Mountainseas rushed over and shouted, "Hong Tan, are you trying to provoke a war between the two academies?"
Hong Tan replied with a swing of his sword, causing the sea of blood to split apart. The most update n0vels are published on novel·fire.net
"War? And why does that matter to me? Wan Tiansheng is the principal, not me."
He unleashed dozens of sword slashes, obliterating a large part of the blood sea, forcing the sea to revert back into a character. This time, the character was visibly much dimmer than before. Done with his attacks, Hong Tan fled without any hesitation.
Only after he fled did the Mountainseas arrive. They were about to give chase when Jin Yuhui stopped them with a wave. He said, "Let's leave."
He did not say anything else. Since his main Divine Character had been seriously damaged during the fight, he couldn't afford to keep fighting anymore. Thus, he wasted no time and left immediately with the elders from the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy.
"Retreat!"
The other Mountainseas were also leaving the warzone.
As for Elder Sun and company, they hurriedly gathered around Zhou Mingren. Zhou Mingren showed no fear and calmly said, "All of you are already at your limits. Hong Tan is the only one with some strength left. Liu Wenyan, are you thinking of taking us down as well?"
Liu Wenyan looked at Xia Yunji and the others. Sure enough, they weren't looking very good. Meanwhile, Zhou Mingren still had several Mountainseas in his group.
And Zhou Mingren himself was a pseudo Sunmoon. Hong Tan might be stronger, but he had also exhausted himself fighting Jin Yuhui earlier. It would be hard for them to defeat Zhou Mingren's group.
"Fine. If you can survive a hit from my axe, this incident today will end here."
Zhou Mingren waved his hand, sending his people away before calmly saying, "You can give it a try. You could have killed me with the strength of your first attack earlier. But after several attacks, you no longer have enough strength to do so."
Liu Wenyan couldn't be bothered to say more. With a roar, he swung his axe. A massive sun appeared in the sky, followed by towering waves, countless stone pillars, and a gigantic mountain.
Boom!
The stone pillars crumbled, the waves receded, the mountain collapsed, and finally, the sun dimmed. A large mouthful of blood spurted out of Zhou Mingren's mouth. He said nothing and turned around to leave.
Elder Sun and the others hurriedly followed him. Hong Tan wanted to give chase when his expression suddenly changed. Liu Wenyan and the others were actually starting to fall from the sky. Xia Yunji and the other helpers appeared to have sustained heavy injuries.
"Senior Brother."
"I'm fine..."
Liu Wenyan fainted right after saying those words.
...
Everything had happened too fast. The fight had ended before Su Yu could even see anything.
At this time, Xia Huyou rubbed his shoulders and helplessly said, "Can you let go of me now?"
Su Yu had insisted on dragging Xia Huyou down to the ground, using him like a shell. He had directly placed Xia Huyou on top of him, completely ignoring Xia Huyou's weight. Xia Huyou might be fat, but he wasn't so heavy that Su Yu couldn't withstand his weight.
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "Do you see me complaining when you have been crushing me with your weight?"
Xia Huyou felt like punching someone in the face. Him? Crushing this fellow with his weight? Screw him! Wasn't this fellow the one who had dragged him down to the ground?
Su Yu ignored Xia Huyou's reaction and asked, "So what happened?"
The entire incident had been too confusing for him. And he didn't even manage to notice anything special about the hidden enemy. After all, the fight had happened in the void and he hadn't been able to see anything. As for the enemy's subsequent conversation with Marquis Xia, it had been blocked with Marquis Xia's barrier. The only thing Su Yu could remember hearing was something like...Xia Xiao'er?
Who was that? Marquis Xia?
Su Yu hurriedly stood back up. He still didn't dare to enter the warzone. He saw Liu Wenyan dropping from the sky, but the qi and willpower of the various experts were still raging everywhere in the warzone. He wasn't stupid enough to throw himself in there and kill himself.
In fact, his head was still hurting from the bloated sensation coming from his sea of willpower. All six of his characters had been busy absorbing the lingering intent of the destroyed characters. Even his hammer was doing the same while madly tempering his sea of willpower.
Su Yu decided to directly activate his Water Path Art and absorb the willpower in the air. Beside him, Xia Huyou did the same. In fact, they were not the only ones doing so. Even Zheng Ping was doing so. With so many people absorbing the willpower in the air, Su Yu did not look too conspicuous.
Both Zheng Ping and Xia Huyou had noticed what Su Yu was doing, but they were too busy to say anything about it. But they were now sure that this fellow really had a cultural art in his possession.
Zheng Ping muttered with regret, "What a pity that Yunhui isn't here. We have some destroyed Eternal characters here. This is an extremely rare opportunity."
The lingering intent was rapidly fading away. Thus, if he actually left to pick up his grandson, the lingering intent might be gone by the time he returned. In that case, he might as well focus on himself. As a warrior, willpower cultivation had always been quite difficult for him. This was a good chance to make some improvement.
Su Yu, who was still confused, asked, "Grandpa Zheng, so has the final combatant been killed?"
"Nope."
Zheng Ping had only been enjoying the show the entire day. Since he had nothing to do, he didn't mind giving more explanation. He said, "He escaped. He's the sect master of the First Divine Sect. No wonder he's so strong. His main body wasn't here. He only sent some character clones over."
"Sect master of the First Divine Sect?"
"Yeah. He is one of the strongest sect masters within the Myriad Race Cult. He is a peak Sunmoon that worships the first divine race. He once visited the Divine Realm to undergo the body modification process of the first divine race. He can now be considered a half-divine."
"Looks like this is the fish Marquis Xia and the others have been waiting for. What a pity that they had failed. But I reckon that the sect master isn't feeling very good as well. He has lost three Eternal characters this time. His strength will drop greatly as a result."
"Sect master of the First Divine Sect?"
Inwardly, Su Yu was feeling doubtful. Was that really the case? Was that not an Invincible? Was that not the Invincible who had potentially stolen the belongings of the fifth principal back then?
"How about that saber..."
"That's the prefect. He killed the sect master of the Blood Fire Sect. That's not surprising. Character clones generally can't travel independently. They must have attached themselves to Blood Fire Sect's sect master to arrive here. But I don't know if the sect master had intentionally carried those clones here or if the clones had been planted on him unknowingly. Nevertheless, these clones had indeed caused his death. Otherwise, a concealed Sunmoon would not be discovered so easily."
As a peak Mountainsea, Zheng Ping was experienced and knowledgeable. Thus, he was able to tell Su Yu a lot of things. In that case, was the last attacker really someone from the First Divine Sect? Su Yu was still busy thinking when Xia Huyou suddenly dragged him off.
"What is it?"
Su Yu still wanted to take a look at Liu Wenyan and his grandteacher...
"Get moving!" Xia Huyou said, "Are you dumb? Go outside the city! A Sunmoon has just been killed there. His source qi will flood the area. Even his Divine Characters have all been destroyed. Time to go there and suck that place dry! The source qi and willpower of a Sunmoon cultivator has returned to the natural world. That is now an excellent cultivation spot!"
"My f-the prefect killed him with one slash, destroying his body and everything about him. But the willpower and source qi are definitely still present. As of this moment, that place is an even better cultivation spot than the grottos in the academy!"
Su Yu's eyes lit up. He raised his thumb in praise. That was right. That made a lot of sense! Behind them, Zheng Ping had evidently realized the same thing. He hurriedly flew toward the academy to collect his grandson.
Yes! He had to bring his grandson over immediately. A Sunmmon had been killed to create this sacred cultivation ground. Was that incredible or what? As for the source qi and willpower from the experts who had died in the warzone, forget it.
Most of the source qi and willpower had been stirred and dispersed by the shockwaves of the battles between Mountainseas. That was not the case outside the city. Without any disturbances, the source qi and willpower from a dead Sunmoon would linger in the area for quite a while.
...
Not far away, Hong Tan was giving Liu Wenyan some healing while asking, "The kid that just ran off. Is that my grandstudent?"
Wu Yuehua, with blood dripping out of her lips, couldn't be bothered to answer the question. She hollered at someone in the distance, "Qi, go back and collect your sister. Take her outside the city to cultivate. The source qi and willpower will probably stay there until tomorrow morning. Don't waste any time."
Wu Qi said nothing and flew straight back to the academy.
After Wu Qi left, Wu Yuehua finally deigned to answer the question, "Yes, that's your grandstudent. Can't you recognize your own grandstudent?"
"..."
What a stupid question. Hong Tan couldn't even be bothered to give a reply. How would he know his grandstudent? He had never met this grandstudent! When he looked at Liu Wenyan again, he felt a headache coming.
Yes, his senior brother had been seriously injured. But that wasn't the point. The point was that his senior brother was pretending to be unconscious. Was that proper? Please, wake up already!
"Senior Brother, wake up!"
Hong Tan pinched the spot right under Liu Wenyan's nose. Liu Wenyan merely coughed a mouthful of blood as a response. But he still refused to wake up.
When Wu Yuehua saw that, she gave Hong Tan a kick and furiously said, "What are you doing?"
"..."
Nearby, Hu Ping and Zhao Mingyue who were staying conscious with great difficulty also glared at Hong Tan.
Hong Tan's face darkened. His senior brother was clearly pretending to be unconscious! Were they blind? What was he supposed to do apart from waking his senior brother up?
He had spent many days traveling to return in time. And he was dragged into a massive battle right after arriving. He had to face two pseudo Sunmoons. Did they think that he was having it easy? Why were they being so mean toward him? He had the urge to just ignore all of them and run off alone. But despite the anger in his heart, Hong Tan still maintained a smile on his face.
At this moment, his young appearance receded, turning back into a frail old man again. The others looked at him with disdain. This fellow was pretending to be a frail elderly again. He was a pseudo Sunmoon. Why was he pretending like someone on the verge of death? He was a pseudo Sunmoon who was not even 70. Could he even be considered old? No! He was actually in his prime! He could be considered a youngster!
There was nothing Hong Tan could do since his senior brother was refusing to wake up. He looked around before asking, "Is it proper for Senior Brother to kill Shan Tianhao just like that? That's Zhou Polong's dog. I'm afraid that more trouble will arise after killing him."
"Coward."
"Wimp."
"Trash."
Hong Tan received one word from each of the three women. He felt greatly aggrieved. If they weren't his senior sister-in-laws, he would have beaten them to death by now. Nearby, Xia Yunji merely smiled. He was already used to these antics.
Fifty years ago, Hong Tan was the little brother that was always pushed around in their group. Although Hong Tan was now the strongest among them, looking at this scene once again still gave him a warm feeling. This gathering would probably be even more interesting if that fellow stopped pretending to be unconscious.
Xia Yunji coughed and spat a mouthful of blood out before saying, "Since he's already dead, so be it. Today, Wenyan revealed the strength of a Sunmoon. That will deter a lot of people. It is not a bad idea to show our strength at least once to buy more time and status for the multiple character faction. We must remind all those people that we are still alive."