Chapter 31 - 31

Chapter 501: Subdue (2)

Hu Qiusheng and the others looked at Su Yu. Had this girl been lied to by Su Yu so much that she had gone crazy?

Su Yu coughed awkwardly and said, "Wu Lan, we are not only doing this for a day or two. This will be a long term project. Thus, rest is also important. Only then will you have enough energy to continue working. I know that you wish to contribute more, but you need to strike a balance between work and rest to do more."

"You guys can go. I'll stay here a bit longer..."

Wu Lan decided to ignore Su Yu, someone who clearly lacked the spirit of perseverance. It was perfectly normal for researchers to work overnight! What did this fellow know?

"..."

Su Yu didn't know what to say. He was even starting to worry. If this lass ended up working herself to death, would her grandaunt blame him?

Even if her grandaunt spared him, would her elder sister spare him? Even if those two spared him...he had heard about another expert in the Wu Family. Wu Yuehua's mother was a Sunmoon. A Sunmoon! Would she kill him? He was getting more and more worried.

By the way, what would be her form of address for the mother of her grandaunt? Suddenly, a random thought appeared in Su Yu's mind. Wu Yuehua was the younger sister of Wu Lan's grandfather. Thus, Wu Yuehua's father was Wu Lan's great grandfather, right? Ohhh, in that case, the Sunmoon was Wu Lan's great grandmother!

Suddenly, Su Yu asked, "Wu Lan, does your great grandmother love you?"

"Huh?"

Wu Lan blanked out slightly. She looked at Su Yu and snorted, "Of course! Before she entered seclusion, she doted on me the most! She doted on me more than my elder sister!"

"..."

In that case, she better not work herself to death here. If nobody loved her, it would probably be fine. But since she had a Sunmoon who doted on her, he was afraid of trouble in case she died. Dıscover more novels at novel★fire.net

Su Yu continued persuading Wu Lan to take a rest. He couldn't help but lament that it sure was nice to have a strong background.

Hu Qiusheng had a Sunmoon grandfather.

Wu Lan had a Sunmoon great grandmother.

Ji Xiaomeng had a Sunmoon father.

Wan Mingze had a Sunmoon grandfather.

Xia Huyou had a peak Sunmoon father, a Sunmoon second granduncle, and an Invincible great grandfather.

Zhao Shiji had a Sunmoon grandfather.

There really were quite a lot of experts in Great Xia.

...

After making his arrangements, Su Yu returned to the Wentan Research Center. He needed to leave early the next day, so he had to make some preparations. He was only going to the suburbs and things would probably be safe, but there was no guarantee that nothing bad would happen.

Prison zone.

Once again, Su Yu arrived. He ignored all the prisoners and looked at the shadow before saying, "Both you and the water guy are good at concealment. I am going to take a trip outside the academy and require a bodyguard. Which of you is interested in this task?"

The water elemental was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. The shadow was a third-stage Cloudbreach.

The white civet hurriedly said, "Lord Su, I might only be a Skysoar, but I am very good at concealment and disguise. I am also very fast."

The fire crow also hurriedly said, "Lord, I am small. Even without concealment, most people will overlook me. I won't be able to do much against warriors, but if it's a cultural researcher, I'll be able to harm that person with my lifebound fire even if it's a Mountainsea."

The two of them were obviously getting anxious. The mountaindrill bull and suanni were even more anxious.

What was this?

Why did Su Yu only need someone good at concealment? What about them, who were only good at direct confrontations?

The mountaindrill bull asked, "Lord, do you need a means of transportation for this trip? I am fast and my steps are steady!"

Su Yu lazily said, "Not for now. Also, I will be going out with the son of Prefect Xia. Xia Longwu's son. Remember this. Don't try anything stupid. Or maybe you can consider capturing him and using him as a hostage for free passage out of the Human Realm."

They all shivered. Don't joke around!

Capturing Xia Longwu's son in Great Xia? They might as well dig a hole and bury themselves alive. That might be a less miserable death than the alternative. They were definitely not interested in courting death.

Su Yu did not waste any time and called Xia Huyou with his communicator again.

Xia Huyou's impatient voice rang out, "What is it this time?"

"Take a trip to the Myriad Race Pit with me tomorrow. You can stay outside if you want. I only need your presence as a show of force to a few beasts. I have a few fellows locked here. They are supposed to escort me tomorrow, but I'm afraid that they will turn on me."

"Mountainsea beasts? I won't be able to do that. I'll get someone else to follow you instead..."

"No. The strongest among them is only a Cloudbreach."

"What?" Xia Huyou said, "If they are only Cloudbreach beasts, just slaughter them. What's the point of keeping them around? Are these first divines or original devils? Cloudbreach beasts are useless. Su Yu, why are your standards so low? Unless it's a young cub, you are better off slaughtering them and selling their bodies. You won't be able to get much value out of them."

Xia Huyou complained, "Are you telling me to be your bodyguard against some Cloudbreach beasts? You're looking down on me too much. In the myriad races or even the divines and the devils, someone like me can be considered a prince. You're bothering me in the middle of the night for something like this?"

"Cut the crap!" Su Yu was blunt, "I can give you a different version of what I gave you previously if I manage to produce something with my research."

"..."

Xia Huyou sank into silence. Shortly after, he said with a greasy tone, "Big Brother Su, remember to call me tomorrow! If those puny beasts dare to create trouble, I'll have the Martial Dragon Guards raid their realms and hunt their races to extinction!"

All the beasts sank into silence.

Xia Longwu's son.

Someone with an Invincible great grandfather and a soon-to-be Invincible father.

Xia Huyou was right. Someone with his identity could be regarded as a prince regardless of which race he was in.

And if the Martial Dragon Guards were really deployed, they might not be able to truly exterminate the races of these beasts since they were all from rather powerful races, but their races would definitely suffer considerably.

Of course, it was very likely that Xia Huyou was bluffing when he spoke about hunting them to extinction. But you never knew since Great Xia was filled with lunatics.

"Sure. See you. Bye..."

"Wait, Big Brother Su, do you really have a different version of that cultivation method?"

"We'll talk again in the future."

Su Yu then ended the call. If he was really exposing his second cultural art, then Xia Huyou would definitely be the first person in his mind. This was Great Xia. If he didn't have a good relationship with the Xia Family, life would be hard.

He would not consider this if Xia Huyou was his enemy. But Xia Huyou was a friend.

Thus, giving Xia Huyou a copy of the second cultural art would give him another protective layer within Great Xia.

He looked at the beasts and indifferently asked, "Shadow and water guy. Which of you is interested?"

The shadow sighed.

"Lord Su, I am willing to become your dao protector."

He had not expected that Su Yu would be able to form a relationship with the prince of the Xia Family so fast. From the tone of the conversation, the two even seemed rather close. As for the possibility of this being an act...there was no need for that. It was only a matter of time before they could verify if the other person was really Xia Longwu's son.

Within the first cage, the water elemental revealed himself and softly said, "I am willing to serve you, Lord."

At this point, this was their only option. Either they die or they submit.

Su Yu rubbed his chin and said, "I'm still worried. Your lives are not worth anything, but my life is very valuable. What if you decide to sacrifice yourself and take me out? Sure, you would be dead as well, but that would be too much of a loss for me."

With a smile, Su Yu said, "Hand over your main Divine Characters and put them under my control for now. You might be weaker without them, but that is a form of guarantee for me."

The water elemental said, "If this is what you want, I have no issue. But the beast taming faction probably has a method to restrict us. There is no need for you to weaken us with such a method, Lord."

Su Yu smiled, "I don't want anyone to know about you for now. I'll ask around and see if I can find an alternative later. But for now, hand over your characters."

Both the water elemental and shadow sighed. As prisoners, they had no other options.

If their main Divine Characters were destroyed, their sea of willpower would receive a backlash and their strength would drop greatly. This was the weakness of all cultural researchers.

At this time, the mountaindrill bull said, "They have third-tier characters. Lord...will you be able to suppress those characters? Why don't you give those characters to me for safekeeping. You can take me on the trip as well. I promise I won't turn on you."

When the fire crow heard that, he anxiously said, "Lord, I can watch over the characters for you. With my lifebound fire, they won't dare to rebel unless they are feeling suicidal."

The water elemental and shadow were infuriated. It was clear that at this point, unity was no longer possible among them. Since even the two strongest among them had surrendered, the rest of them needed to start thinking for themselves as well.

It was time to submit.

It was either that or death.

Bai Feng was gone. The research center no longer required them. And they were too weak for Hong Tan. They were out of options. If they waited until Su Yu outgrew his need for them, would there be a next person for them to rely on?

Perhaps Su Yu would be the last new student they could see before meeting their end. Su Yu would be their final caretaker. They were all very clear about this.

Su Yu rubbed his chin and said, "Fire crow, you're right. How about this? Hand me your main Divine Character. I'll let you suppress their characters but you will remain in your cage. The moment I do something to your character, you will know that they have turned on me. At that time, just destroy their characters."

"..."

The beasts were stunned.

The fire crow was filled with grief.

He wanted to leave!

He didn't want to stay here!

He was so obedient and honest! Why wasn't he given a chance to leave? This was driving him crazy.

Despite the grief in his heart, the fire crow said, "Your wisdom knows no bounds, Lord. The moment you touch my character, I will burn both their characters."

The shadow said, "Lord, what if you accidentally touch his character? Would the two of us die for no reason?"

This felt too dangerous.

Chapter 502: Subdue (3)

Su Yu disagreed. He said, "The fire crow has a second-tier character. Only when I am seriously injured would the fire crow be able to sense anything from so far away. That can only mean that I have succumbed to an attack and the two of you have failed to protect your master. In that situation, you deserve death. What's wrong with that?"

The shadow had nothing to say.

Su Yu did not want to waste more time. He said, "Hand over your characters...wait, forget it. I'll call my martial uncle first. I can't give you any chance to scheme against me. Wait a moment."

"..."

The beasts were starting to feel exhausted. Just how afraid of death was this fellow? They had all submitted. They were really sincere in their submission. Could he give them some trust?

...

Su Yu did not care about their thoughts.

As far as he was concerned, his own life was far more precious than their lives. He could never be too cautious. If it wasn't for the lack of options, he wouldn't have even considered using these beasts.

Who knew if there was a lunatic among them who was willing to die with a human for revenge? It would be such a pity if he were to die because of that, right?

A few minutes later.

Chen Yong arrived.

He glanced at the beasts and wasted no time. Three of the cages were opened. The water elemental, shadow, and fire crow were released.

He had an amused expression as he said, "This plan is acceptable. But the fire crow can come with me to the books depository. The moment something happens, I'll be able to sense it. As for their characters, hand it to me. With their characters in my hand, they won't be able to escape death in the event of betrayal."

In other words, the fire crow had been reduced into a communicator that was even more useful than a voice transmission talisman.

After all, in the event of an ambush, one might not have the chance to use a voice transmission talisman. But the fire crow's character would be kept in the sea of willpower. Even if Su Yu was ambushed, he would be able to instantly move or damage the character in his sea of willpower.

The fire crow felt greatly sorrowful at being reduced to a mere tool, but at the same time, he was also slightly happy that he could finally leave this place. He was sick of this place. As far as he was concerned, any other place would be better than here.

Books depository? That was still better than this place. Sure, the terrifying Chen Yong was there as well, but he would take that over staying here.

Chen Yong said, "This will actually make it hard for them to display their full strength. I will get some confinement rings from the Beast Taming Faculty later. This is the tool humanity relies on to tame their mounts. Your grandteacher had not gotten any of these rings because it wasn't worth it." For more chapters visıt novel⦿fire.net

While working on the beasts, Chen Yong explained, "A single ring is worth over 1,000 merit points. Rather than spending that much money, he might as well keep them in cages and extract some blood essence from them once a while."

Yes. The reason was that simple. These beasts were not worth those rings.

As for the Mountainsea beasts, the rings for them would be even more expensive. And these rings could only be purchased from the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Hong Tan was too poor for that. In any case, he had not been expecting to get any help from these beasts. Thus, he had not bothered.

The water elemental and shadow stayed completely silent. Nobody could understand the level of grief they were feeling inwardly. So they had not been tamed so far because in Hong Tan's eyes, they were not even worth the price he needed to pay for those rings.

Why hadn't Hong Tan told them earlier? They would gladly pay to have themselves tamed! Sure, they did not have any human currency in hand, but they could always sell their own blood essence for money, right?

Why had Hong Tan not told them about it? If they had known about it, they would gladly provide more blood essence to pay for it. Life sure was difficult as beasts. They needed to pay to turn themselves into mounts. The world must be going crazy.

...

Both Chen Yong and Su Yu were naturally unbothered with the grief those beasts were feeling. Before long, Chen Yong had three characters in hand.

Each of them had been formed in the language of its respective owner.

The shadow's main Divine Character was the shadow character, the water elemental's main Divine Character was the water character, and the fire crow's main Divine Character was the fire character.

Su Yu asked curiously, "Without your main Divine Characters, will you still be able to conceal yourself?"

The shadow said, "Yes. We are born with natural talents in concealment. Our concealment will only be less perfect without our characters. As a third-stage Cloudbreach, I was able to hide from some Mountainseas before. But now, I can probably only hide from some Cloudbreach cultivators. We have also weakened considerably after all these years so our concealment skills have deteriorated as well."

His body flickered and vanished. Next, Su Yu felt something different about his shadow.

When he looked over, he saw his shadow twisting about. After a short moment, the shadow returned to normal.

The shadow's voice rang out, "In the past, I was able to hide in the shadow of Cloudbreach cultivators undetected. Now, I will probably be discovered even if I'm hiding in the shadow of a Skysoar."

The water elemental transformed into a drop of water before landing in Su Yu's palm. His voice rang out, "It's the same for me. My strength has degraded greatly. My Water Transformation ability allows me to merge with any liquid around me, but now, my concealment can be seen through much easier than before. In the past, even a Mountainsea would have a hard time detecting me."

In truth, Su Yu could use the Water Transformation ability as well. But he needed the blood essence of the water elemental race to do so.

He did not say anything. This felt decent. They were still quite useful. He then picked up the fire character. He had a fire character himself as well, but his was in the form of the human language.

After studying it for a bit, he took it into his sea of willpower.

The fire crow hurriedly reminded, "Be careful. Don't harm yourself—"

But he immediately shut his mouth.

Su Yu was completely fine. After a short moment, he smiled, "That was easy. Fire crow, you're too weak. It's not hard to suppress your character."

He was speaking the truth. Sure, that was a peak second-tier character, but Su Yu's blood character was at a similar level. This character would definitely be stronger in the fire crow's sea of willpower. Now that it was inside Su Yu's sea of willpower, it was no longer as strong.

Su Yu was able to easily suppress it. He didn't even need to use the golden book or his little hammer.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, Su Yu hit the character once with his hammer. Instantly, the fire crow dropped unconscious.

Su Yu blinked. "I didn't even use much strength. Stop pretending."

No response came.

Chen Yong laughed and pinched the fire crow. With a terrified screech, the fire crow woke up. He hurriedly said, "Lord, stop hitting it! I have not betrayed you!"

He was terrified. What was that? His main Divine Character had been seriously damaged in one hit.

Su Yu smiled, "You're way too tender. I didn't even use much force there. I was only testing it out..."

He had nearly smashed the character apart with one hit.

Was this a Skysoar?

Bullshit!

The other beasts were completely silent.

Freak!

This was a true freak.

He was able to casually suppress a peak second-tier character. This was too terrifying. Was this still the Mental Tempering Stage? Was this a joke?

But Chen Yong wasn't surprised. Su Yu? A Mental Tempering Stage? Stop joking. As far as he was concerned, Su Yu was a fake Mental Tempering Stage. Just look at how solid the kid's willpower was. You call that a Mental Tempering Stage student?

His willpower was even more solid than that of some Skysoars. And how many apertures had the kid opened? 36? Don't joke around! Chen Yong would believe it even if someone told him that the kid had opened double that number of apertures.

The kid would have no problem suppressing the fire crow's second-tier character. With this, three out of the six beasts were tamed. The suanni, mountaindrill bull, and white civet were feeling extremely sullen.

And Su Yu's words had caused them even more worry.

"Martial Uncle, I will be spending most of my time in the Source Soul Research Center from now on. I will take two of these three with me. The fire crow will go with you. As for the rest..."

"Just kill them." Chen Yong nonchalantly said, "I'm too busy to feed them. It would be a waste to starve them to death. We might as well kill and sell them while they're fresh..."

The three beasts trembled with fear. They were going to be killed!

"Lord, Lord, I gave you a heaven-grade technique before! Have you forgotten, Lord?"

The suanni was very anxious. They were going to kill him!

Su Yu smiled and said, "Forget it. No matter what, a relationship has been built between us. Just let them stay here. I'll feed them whenever I find the time. If not, forget it. They're truly too weak..."

He sighed. Why were these fellows only Skysoars? If they were at the Cloudbreach Realm, they could still be considered experts. Skysoars? That...didn't feel so special at all. It didn't matter if Su Yu himself wasn't a Skysoar. That wouldn't stop him from feeling that way.

The three beasts were on the verge of crying. They would really starve to death!

Su Yu ignored them and said, "Shadow, you will stay in my shadow. Water guy, you'll stay on my body. Don't make any sound. I will cover you up with my shadow barriers. Can Mountainseas discover you?"

"Yeah."

Of course, during their peak, they were able to hide from even Mountainseas. But that wasn't the case anymore.

"So be it."

In truth, apart from the various academies and the military, Mountainseas were rarely seen anywhere else. For example, not even a Cloudbreach could be seen in Nanyuan. After subduing the two beasts, Su Yu felt a lot more reassured than before.

He would finally have something to rely on when he was outside the academy. Wan Tiansheng had promised that no Mountainsea would touch him. If they dared to lay a hand on him, they would die.

Thus, he only needed to worry about Cloudbreach cultivators. Both the shadow and water elemental were at the Cloudbreach Realm. Their strength might have deteriorated, but they could still put up a fight against Cloudbreach opponents.

"I can now proceed with my plan."

The relieved Su Yu walked out of the building. Chen Yong followed behind him with the fire crow in hand. He asked, "You're taking a trip outside the academy? Do you want me to go with you?"

"It's fine. Things might be even more troublesome with you at my side." Su Yu said, "If you come with me, they will think that we're doing something big. It will be better for me to leave without you."

"If anything happens, just damage the fire crow's character. I will arrive promptly. The crow can sense the location of his own character."

"Sure."

Su Yu nodded. The fire crow remained silent. He had accepted his role as a navigational device. They were all talking like his main Divine Character was completely worthless. This was so sad.

Chapter 503: Conspicuous Genius (1)

The next day.

Early morning, outside the Source Soul Research Center.

Both Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming were there. Looking at the genius students and powerful researchers that were passing by the area, a look of envy could be seen in their eyes.

Humans would always stay in their respective collectives.

Before reaching a certain level, one would not be able to enter the circle of those at that level. For example, people like them would mostly be involved with the more ordinary students of the academy. Meanwhile, Su Yu's place was filled with genius students whose names were known throughout the academy.

After a short wait, Su Yu came out.

"My apologies for making you wait."

Su Yu checked the time. It was only seven in the morning. These two had arrived quite early.

Chen Ming hurriedly said, "It's fine, Class Monitor. We were the ones who were too early."

Su Yu smiled and wasted no time. "Let's set off."

Instead of traveling on foot, they went to the Beast Taming Faculty to rent an earthdragon beast. This was a large beast that worked very well as a mount. It wasn't too strong, but it was quite durable to damage.

One needed to pay one merit point to rent the beast for a day. It wasn't too expensive, and it was very convenient to use. After all, with a normal vehicle, one would need to worry about the terrain, while with this beast, rough terrain wouldn't be that big of an issue.

...

Outside the academy.

Riding on the earthdragon beast, the three were able to travel quickly. The back of the beast was relatively flat, and the ride was smooth as they didn't even feel the movement of the beast.

The people on the road weren't surprised to see the beast as this was a common sight in the capital. In fact, even flying experts could be commonly seen in the capital.

Of course, one would generally need a permit to ride around on their beasts or fly in the air. This was a regulation put in place to keep traffic in the capital at a manageable level. Naturally, as students of the academy, this restriction did not apply to them.

While traveling on the beast, Wang Zhishan started explaining to Su Yu, "Su Yu, we will take about an hour to reach the Myriad Race Pit. Normally, all the captured cultists will be executed there. That place isn't too dangerous, but some experts will leave behind a thick aura of resentment. Be sure to avoid those areas when nurturing your character. Just look for a place with a low level of baleful qi."

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Wang."

Su Yu nodded, but he didn't say much. His focus was on the Perception Jade. He did not dare to be careless when he was outside the academy. As for Old Wan's promise that nobody at the Mountainsea Realm and above would touch him...well, who knew if Old Wan was reliable? He should always be prudent.

The Perception Jade would change in color every now and then. Most of the time, it would only change color to blue. That signified that he was under the attention of a Skysoar.

Su Yu wasn't too surprised. There were a lot of Skysoars in the capital. One could easily pass by one when walking on the streets. He still needed to be careful around these Skysoars, but he did not need to be too fearful of them.

No Cloudbreach cultivator had been detected yet. It was unknown if these cultivators were simply uninterested in them or if they had yet to encounter any.

...

At the same time.

Great Xia City, suburbs. The rıghtful source is NoveI(F)ire.net

Inside a large house.

This was the house of a large family based in the suburbs. This family was relatively famous locally, but they couldn't compare with the large families within the main city itself. Nevertheless, this was still a family with multiple Skysoars.

Basement.

The dimly lit room was covered in a formation.

"Su Yu is heading toward the Myriad Race Pit."

A few faintly discernible figures could be seen in the basement.

"Su Yu...that's a big fish! The previous bounty for him was 5,000 merit points, but it has recently increased to 8,000 merit points. But we need to capture him alive for the reward."

An old woman spoke with a sharp voice, "Yeah. I heard he started a research center to research something called the source soul acupoint?"

"Are the higher ups actually taking him seriously? That's a brat who has only joined the academy for a short while. Someone like that is claiming that he has discovered this source soul acupoint that not even Invincibles have discovered? Do you actually believe that?"

The old woman's voice was filled with disdain.

Source soul acupoint.

The research center was founded the day before and news about it had already spread all over the capital. It was very difficult to keep secrets in Great Xia. In fact, this was the case for all the prefectures.

But the reason so many people believed that Su Yu's research wouldn't be completely hopeless was because he had opened over 300 acupoints. Perhaps he had really discovered something.

To the left of the old woman was an old man with white hair. The old man was smoking from a water pipe, filling his surroundings with smoke. With a smile, he said, "It doesn't matter what we believe. The only thing that matters is the fact that the higher ups are interested in him. In fact, a lot of people are interested in him. He has opened over 300 acupoints, but how long has he been a student of the academy?

"Even ignoring this acupoint, he himself is an excellent research subject with his 300 acupoints. And he also has the Soul Devouring Art. He probably knows about the blood essence research of Wentan Research Center as well."

Su Yu was definitely a very valuable target.

If they could capture him alive and get some information out of him, they would be able to earn much more than the 8,000 merit points that they could get from the bounty.

"There's also Xia Family's Sky Sundering Saber. He's cultivating the heaven-grade version of the cultivation method. I heard that he also knows a few other heaven-grade techniques. This fellow is very valuable."

The old woman frowned and said, "Sky Sundering Saber? This is Great Xia...coveting something like this is tantamount to suicide. Since the Xia Family dares to teach it to outsiders, it means that they are not afraid of leakage. But who would dare to practice their cultivation method without permission? Not even a Sunmoon would be able to escape the Xia Family if one learned it without permission."

It was a bad idea to set their eyes on that cultivation method. That was basically suicide.

The old man laughed, "It's not like I'll set my eyes on the Sky Sundering Saber. I reckon even our higher ups wouldn't dare to learn it. But if we can get it, even if we only keep it hidden for research, we will be able to learn more about the Xia Family."

A lot of people coveted the Sky Sundering Saber. Over the years, people had learned the cultivation method without permission. But not one of these people had survived after exposing the fact that they knew it.

Of course, nobody knew if there were people who had learned it without permission but had never used it in public. But the mere fact that nobody dared to use it in public without permission was a testament of the Xia Family's strength. Even if they leaked their own cultivation method, people wouldn't dare to learn it.

The old man looked at the other individuals in the room. Including him and the old woman, there were five of them in total. One of them was a young man, one was a young woman, and one was a little boy.

"What about the rest of you? What are your thoughts? The Myriad Race Pit is surrounded by the Martial Dragon Guards. We definitely wouldn't dare to do anything in the main city. If we want to do something, the only opening is the distance of roughly 20 kilometers between the pit and the main city. We can't do it near the pit itself or the main city. We have to do it in between the two places."

The earthdragon beast was fast enough to cross 10 kilometers in about five minutes. If they wanted to do something, this would be their chance.

The little boy said, "Su Yu is a genius student of the academy. Will he have hidden dao protectors when he's outside the academy? This is the biggest question. If there are hidden protectors, attacking him will be suicide."

The old man continued smoking from his pipe as he said, "We can confirm that Chen Yong has not left the books depository. But I don't know anything else. According to the higher ups, Su Yu is accompanied by two other students. One is not even at the Mental Tempering Stage while the other has just reached the Mental Tempering Stage. Su Yu himself isn't weak. Even first or second-stage Skysoars might have a hard time capturing him."

They were definitely not underestimating Su Yu. They were directly evaluating him as a low-stage Skysoar. As a new student, this was a very high evaluation. Then again, it was understandable, as Su Yu was a student with the strength to take first place in the top 100.

"What about Hong Tan? Would he show up?"

"..."

Silence descended. They had no answer to that.

The whereabouts of a pseudo Sunmoon were not something people like them would know.

The boy said with worry, "I'm afraid of Hong Tan's appearance. All of us will die if that happens. Will a genius like Su Yu leave the academy with no protection?"

Even the genius members of the cult would receive protection when they were outside.

The old woman said, "The multiple character faction does not have enough manpower. Chen Yong is their current strongest active member. Hong Tan is in seclusion for his breakthrough into the Sunmoon Realm. He won't leave so suddenly. Bai Feng has gone to the battlefield. Who else can they dispatch? Are you telling me that Wu Yuehua and the other elders will stop all their tasks and spend their time protecting a mere student?"

When the old woman saw that the others were still silent, she grew slightly angry. She emphasized, "If we capture him, we will get 8,000 merit points. Each of us will get around 1,600 merit points. That is enough for us to purchase some treasures. We might even be able to enter the Cloudbreach Realm with that much money. Are you hoping to reach the Cloudbreach Realm just waiting around like this? Do you even have a chance without this job?"

Su Yu was the easiest target at this level of bounty. A total of 8,000 merit points were offered to capture him alive. Even the reward for his assassination wasn't as high. More importantly, a genius like this would definitely have some treasures on him.

For example, a cultural weapon. Even incompatible cultural weapons were still worth something. They could even get some secret techniques or methods from him. Apart from the Sky Sundering Saber, they could aim for everything else on him.

There were also blood essence, source qi liquid, and other natural treasures. These genius students enjoyed taking these things with them. Since Su Yu was out to cultivate, it was likely that he would have these things on him as well.

Everyone sank into a long silence. The old man started cleaning his pipe while the old woman remained silent.

After a while, the old man said, "It hasn't been easy for us to establish his stronghold. All five of us are Skysoars. By hiding there for so long, we have provided the sect with a lot of valuable information. And we have been rewarded decently. Each year, we can get at least 200 or 300 merit points..."

For Skysoars, that was actually a decent sum of money. Back when Bai Feng was in the academy, his yearly income was only around 300 to 400 merit points. But if they managed to capture Su Yu, this one job would be the equivalent of seven or eight years of what they have been doing previously.

For them, Su Yu himself wasn't too dangerous. They were more scared of the dao protectors he could potentially have.

After a short silence, the old man said, "Crazy old lady, go and scout the route he's taking. There is no need for you to do anything, but verify if he has any dao protector around him. If we can't verify that, I would rather we stay cautious. We have remained hidden here for so many years. I doubt any of us wish to fall to this mission after so many years of success.

"Also, try to ask the higher ups if they can confirm about Su Yu's protection. The multiple character faction might lack manpower, but the academy itself does not..."

The old woman replied, "Alright. I'll take a look. There is no rush. If we don't do it now, we can do it when he's on his way back to the academy."

The young woman suddenly smiled, "I'll go with the boy. We can try to approach the pit and take a look. If there are really experts shadowing him, we will be able to sense something."

"Sure." The old man nodded. He solemnly said, "Either we don't make a move or we move with perfect confidence. I doubt the bounty of 8,000 merit points can be earned so easily. If he could be taken so easily, they wouldn't have offered such a high bounty in the first place. Just treat him as a Cloudbreach. If we're making a move, use all our strength and work together."

The young and old women were seventh-stage Skysoars, the old man was a ninth-stage Skysoar, the boy was a fifth-stage Skysoar, and the young man was a third-stage Skysoar. They had enough strength to even face a Cloudbreach when required. If Su Yu was really without a protector, this mission would pose no difficulty for them.

...

The earthdragon beast was moving rapidly.

Atop the beast, Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming were talking to each other while Su Yu was looking around them curiously, acting like someone who had never left the main city before. But it wasn't that he had never left the main city before. He had already seen these sceneries on the day he arrived at the academy.

Looking at these sceneries again, he had to admit that the capital was truly a flourishing and powerful city. Even the suburbs were filled with traffic and people.

At one point, Wang Zhishan suddenly said, "We'll reach there soon. The earthdragon beast is very fast and there are fewer people out here in the suburbs. It won't take us much longer to reach."

The main city actually covered a huge portion of the route they had to take. It had taken them a long time to reach the gate of the main city from the academy gate.

Now that they were in the suburbs, the Myriad Race Pit was no longer that far away. Su Yu nodded with a smile. Inwardly, he was still fully focused on his Perception Jade. There were far fewer experts in the suburbs. The Perception Jade would barely change.

As the earthdragon beast ran, the number of pedestrians dropped while the road grew wider. Right at that moment, the Perception Jade changed. It turned blue. A Skysoar was prying on him.

Su Yu's expression was unchanged. He casually looked around, as though he was enjoying the scenery. With a smile, he said, "Senior Brother Wang, are there a lot of Skysoars outside the main city?"

Wang Zhishan replied, "Skysoars will generally be the core of any force they belong to. There are a lot of Skysoars in the capital, and they can also be found outside the main city. Some are the residents of the suburbs, and some are merely passing by."

"Residents?"

Su Yu asked curiously, "The main city has abundant source qi. Why don't they stay in the main city instead? As Skysoars, they should be able to afford the expenses of living in the main city, right?"

Wang Zhishan explained, "There are too many experts in the main city. A mere Skysoar might still be nothing in the main city. But here in the suburbs, a Skysoar could enjoy a reasonably high status. Some Skysoars even have their own businesses out here, such as mines and factories. With these businesses, they actually live a good life out here. And they also have to worry less about accidentally offending an expert living here."

Su Yu nodded. At that moment, his gaze landed on a nearby old woman. He did not focus on her and moved his gaze away soon after, looking like it was just a casual glance. The old woman was walking slowly on the road. When she saw the approaching earthdragon beast, she moved to the side.

Su Yu ignored her, but he turned cautious inwardly. This must be the person scanning him. She was a Skysoar. Why was she being so low key? These days, it was normal for experts to maintain a low profile. But it was rather abnormal for a Skysoar to be so low key that she would make way for an earthdragon beast.

Were Skysoars so humble? They would make way at the sight of any earthdragon beast?

The previous Skysoars they had encountered on the road had generally not moved aside for them apart from those that were actually in the middle of the road and blocking the way. This old woman was at the side of the way, so there wasn't even a need for her to move further aside.

Su Yu said nothing and the earthdragon beast continued moving away from the place. Behind them, the old woman continued walking slowly.

After Su Yu left, the old woman raised her head to give him a glance. She continued walking for about two or three minutes, confirming that nobody was tailing Su. Unless it was a Mountainsea, she was now sure that nobody was following Su Yu.

She would be able to sense even a Cloudbreach.

"He has no hidden protectors. How gutsy."

The old woman was quite surprised. Then again, the kid was probably confident that he was safe within the borders of the capital city. Also, the kid might not have anyone to bring even if he wanted to. The woman remained silent and continued walking silently.

Chapter 504: Conspicuous Genius (2)

At the same time.

High in the sky.

A middle-aged man was floating in the air. After glancing at the old woman down below, he frowned slightly. But he said nothing and left as he had not noticed anything abnormal.

The old woman did not notice anything.

While flying, the middle-aged man sent a message with a voice transmission talisman, "Senior Hu, there are a lot of Skysoars out here, but most are known to us. I don't notice anything abnormal. By the way, Su Yu has his own beast protectors. Both are at the Cloudbreach Realm."

Great Xia City, capital of Great Xia.

Administrator Hu laughed. That little fellow sure was well-prepared.

It was only a trip to the Myriad Race Pit, but the kid was actually taking two Cloudbreach beast protectors with him.

"Myriad Race Pit..."

Nurturing his character?

Administrator Hu sank into contemplation. Was that the real reason the kid was going there?

The Source Soul Research Center had just been established. Why was the kid going to the Myriad Race Pit instead of staying in his research center?

He was suspicious, but he said nothing about it. He sent his message, "Keep following him. Stay watchful. The source soul acupoint might only be a theory for now, but Su Yu is someone who has opened over 300 acupoints. A lot of people are interested in him."

There was a need for prudence.

The source soul acupoint was still a theory. It had yet to be truly discovered. If it had really been discovered, a single Mountainsea would not be enough to protect Su Yu. That was something that would change the fate of humanity. That was probably something that would cause even Invincibles to kill each other.

Of course, the premise of anything happening was Su Yu keeping his discoveries to himself. If the discoveries were already spread, it was pointless to kill Su Yu.

Administrator Hu started thinking. Should they step in and take over the research center right after this source soul acupoint was discovered? At that thought, he suddenly laughed. He was actually planning for Su Yu's eventual success already. How interesting.

...

Near the Myriad Race Pit.

Even from far away, one could see a red mist drifting in the air, as though the entire place was enveloped in a mist of blood.

Su Yu was able to sense the killing intent in the area even before arriving. He couldn't help but say, "How many people do they need to kill to create something like this?"

Wang Zhishan said, "Don't you know our prefect? Everyone in Great Xia knows that he never takes prisoners. Thus, executions are very common. There are jails in Great Xia, but there are no death-row inmates. These inmates have either been executed here or exiled to the Allheaven Battlefield. And this has persisted for decades. Just imagine how many people have died here."

Su Yu thought about how he used to watch Xia Longwu's executions on the television. It would happen at least once per month. And each time, at least a dozen people would be executed. In a year, at least a hundred people would be executed. And that was during relatively peaceful times. This year, when the Myriad Race Cult was very active, thousands of people had been executed.

Thus, there were tens of thousands of corpses in this Myriad Race Pit. And every single one of them was a cultivator. Their vitality was vigorous and some of them were cultural researchers whose willpower had yet to disperse even after death. Because of that, a baleful aura enveloped this place.

"The prefect is indeed murderous."

Su Yu nodded. That was the reason why the cult was rather afraid of operating in Great Xia. He heard that in some other prefectures, the cultists were already starting to preach their beliefs in broad daylight.

Ahead of them was the Myriad Race Pit.

Su Yu could already see the Martial Dragon Guards stationed there.

Yes, this place was actively guarded by the Martial Dragon Guards.

The earthdragon beast stopped a few hundred meters away from the pit. It did not dare to go any further. Rest pavilions and hitching posts were available there for the visitors. This rest stop was also guarded by soldiers.

When the guards saw the earthdragon beast, one of them asked, "You're from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy? How long are you staying here? You can keep your earthdragon beast here for a payment of one merit point per day."

"..."

Su Yu did not know what to say. He was cursing inwardly.

This was daylight robbery!

Why was Great Xia charging for everything?

He was unhappy, but he had no choice. It wasn't like there were any other options. If he did not keep the earthdragon beast here and ended up losing it, he would need to pay the academy hundreds of merit points instead.

He hopped off the earthdragon beast and completed the procedures for having the beast kept there. Nearby, a young woman with a boy was also in the process of hitching her mount, a cloudrush horse.

Su Yu had seen these beasts before during his entrance examination. At the time, he even rode one of them. The young woman was not weak at all. She was a Skysoar. The Perception Jade turned blue, but Su Yu wasn't too bothered. This was the capital. Skysoars were everywhere.

Seemingly having sensed Su Yu's gaze on her, the young woman turned to look at him. She smiled and nodded at her before walking forward while holding the boy's hand. She said to the guard on duty and said, "Little Zhang, I need to enter to gather some baleful qi. I'll be out shortly. Can I skip the payment this time? The parking fee is too expensive!"

The guard seemed to know her. He smiled and said, "Madam Zhang, the parking fee was set by the marquis, not me. As long as you have a mount here, you need to pay one merit point. Otherwise, you will have to risk losing your mount."

"This is too greedy!"

The young woman grumbled jokingly before paying up and moving on with the boy.

Su Yu only gave them a glance before withdrawing his gaze.

But after a short thought, he softly asked, "Brother, she's entering with a child. Will that be fine?"

The guard waited until the woman and the boy were further away from them before saying, "That's Madam Zhang, the lady of a nearby rich family. Her child injured himself during cultivation and requires baleful qi to suppress the backlash of his injuries. It will be fine."

Su Yu nodded. He only asked because it seemed improper to bring a child to such a place. But hearing the explanation, he said nothing else. He set off as well.

The Myriad Race Pit was massive, and it was surrounded by walls on all sides. These walls were meant to prevent accidental entries. There was an entry point allowing one passage through the walls. A small group of Martial Dragon Guards were stationed there.

The soldiers there were all peak Infinite Strength cultivators. There were probably some concealed Skysoar guards around as well as Su Yu could see the color of his Perception Jade changing. He wasn't too worried about it.

He took out the mission token of the academy and showed it to the guards. After checking the token, one of them said, "You may enter after paying five merit points. Also, remember to not go too deep into the pit. The corpses there used to be super experts, but don't even dream of getting anything there. Students like you love to fantasize about getting some inheritances from these dead experts, but can the inheritances of the cult compare with what you're getting from the academy?"

The soldier was blunt, but he was speaking the truth. A lot of students had visited this place with such fantasies in the past.

The soldier gave another reminder, "The killing intent and baleful qi around the corpses of experts are too thick. The aura can easily destabilize the seas of willpower of Mental Tempering Stage students like you. It might result in a collapse of the sea of willpower. I'm sure you know what that means. Don't do anything stupid in there."

"Thank you for the reminder, Big Brother." Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I won't seek death."

"Good. You may enter."

Su Yu nodded and entered with Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming. Right after stepping into the pit, a rotten stench assaulted his nostrils.

The smell was terrible. Not far away, the young woman from earlier could be seen gathering the baleful qi in the air. The boy was right beside her. Strand after strand of baleful qi entered his body to suppress his injuries. This was such a young boy. Had he encountered an issue while opening an acupoint?

Su Yu wondered inwardly, but he did not dwell on it. He continued heading deeper into the pit. But after a few steps, he frowned. He was merely passing by. Why was the young woman paying such close attention to him?

His Perception Jade kept turning blue before returning to its original color. This had happened a few times in a row.

The jade was probably reacting to the young woman's probes. Once or twice was not an issue, but the frequency was a tad bit too high. Did she think that he was a pushover for her to keep scanning him like this?

Sure, he wasn't supposed to be able to detect anything. But that wasn't the case since he had the Perception Jade on him.

He did not say anything, but he was starting to turn suspicious. They did not know each other, so it was rather weird that the woman would pay him so much attention. The guards knew her, so she was clearly a member of a large family in the area. After all, she was a Skysoar, so her family wouldn't be too small.

Previously, Su Yu was not bothered about her. But now, he started turning cautious. As complete strangers, a Skysoar kept stealthily scanning a student. Was this normal? Beside him, Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming were completely oblivious to what was happening.

Su Yu remained silent and continued walking forward.

The Myriad Race Pit was actually just a really large pit. But there were numerous pathways built over this pit, allowing one to go nearer to the center of the pit without jumping into the pit with all the rotting corpses. However, even on top of those pathways, the smell was still terrible.

Eventually, the Perception Jade stopped changing colors.

The young woman had stopped observing him.

Nevertheless, that little episode was enough for Su Yu to take note of the young woman. She had observed him over a distance of hundreds of meters. Since she was paying so much attention to him, she could very well be a villain!

Naturally, Su Yu did not deny that there was the possibility that the woman had simply been attracted to his good looks. Alas, he was uninterested in her. Since she already had a child of such age, even if she looked young, she could very well be 50 or even 60.

...

After Su Yu was far away, the young woman asked through voice transmission, "Did you discover anything?" Get full chapters from novel⚑fire.net

The boy replied with voice transmission, "I found nothing. But this fellow...his source qi is very thick."

He was somewhat envious.

Even after Su Yu's attempt to hide his source qi, when the boy was looking at Su Yu, he still felt like he was looking at a ferocious beast instead of a human.

So was this what a genius looked like? Someone capable of opening so many acupoints?

The boy had an envious look in his eyes. Back then, he had only opened 72 acupoints before entering the Skysoar Realm. The difference between him and Su Yu was simply too big.

After spending a little bit more time gathering the baleful qi in the air, the woman said, "If there are no issues, let's go back. Stay closer to me. Don't let anyone notice you."

With the boy sticking close to her, she could intentionally release the aura of a Skysoar to cover the fact that the boy was also a Skysoar.

The boy asked, "Why aren't we making a move here?"

"Fool!"

The woman chided.

This was the Myriad Race Pit.

The place was guarded by the Martial Dragon Guards. Sure, it was safe to kill inside the pit itself. But the moment the corpses of the kids were discovered, they would be hunted everywhere. After all, they had entered the pit openly and the Zhang Family was also rather well-known in the area.

All of them would suffer the consequences of Su Yu's death. If they were really killing Su Yu, they could only do it in the dark. Furthermore, that wasn't even their plan. They wanted to capture him alive.

"Let's talk when we're back. The crazy old lady has already returned."

The young woman ignored the boy's suggestion. She knew that he was saying that out of jealousy.

The boy had a habit of envying and hating geniuses. Of course, the boy wasn't alone. Geniuses like Su Yu would always be envied by their friends, worshiped by the weaklings, and resented by the enemies. Others would ask why weren't they the ones to open hundreds of acupoints?

They would make excuses that it wasn't due to their lack of talent. Rather, they simply lacked luck or background...

That was how most people would think.

The boy was angry at being chided, but he remained silent and followed the woman as she left.

Before leaving, he looked in Su Yu's direction one last time with a cold look in his eyes. So what if the kid was a genius? He was still going to meet his end in their hands! The kid could only blame himself for failing to get even one dao protector.

The multiple character faction had truly declined. In the past, a genius of this level would receive at least a Cloudbreach as his dao protector. But today, no signs of any dao protector could be seen around Su Yu.

Chapter 505: Memory Fragment (1)

"Senior Brother Wang, Chen Ming, you guys can stay here. I'll go deeper inside."

Looking at his two pale friends, Su Yu smiled and said, "My kill character is already at the second tier. I need to go deeper. You can stop here or maybe wait for me outside."

"Su Yu...this..."

They were paid to be here. This was an official assignment. Would it be proper for them to stop halfway?

Su Yu smiled, "It's fine. I have the kill and blood characters. The baleful qi here won't affect me, but it will be quite harsh on the two of you."

Wang Zhishan awkwardly said, "Then...we'll have to thank you, Junior Brother."

Su Yu was right. This was the furthest they could go. If they went further, something bad might happen to them. But they had hesitated to say something since they were being paid.

Su Yu said, "You can also stay here and temper your willpower for a bit. It can be quite beneficial for you as well. The environment here is quite good for toughening up your killing intent."

The two nodded in agreement. Yeah, tempering their killing intent here was a good idea. There were some other people in the pit. But most of them were minding their own business at their own little spots. Nobody was conversing with each other.

Su Yu was more impressed with those who had gone deeper. And some had even gone directly into the pit to cultivate, completely indifferent to the stench down there.

...

After leaving his two friends behind, Su Yu was able to move even faster.

While walking, he muttered softly, "Any of you found anything abnormal about that woman?"

"A seventh-stage Skysoar, also a warrior."

That was the shadow's voice. Then, an ornament in the form of a water drop hanging on Su Yu's chest spoke, "That woman isn't weak, but that's not the issue. The child with her is the issue..."

After a short pause, the water elemental said, "Something is off about the child."

"Something is off?"

Su Yu muttered doubtfully. He hadn't noticed anything.

"The water composition in his body isn't right."

Su Yu did not understand. The water elemental explained, "That child might not be an actual child. The water elemental race is very sensitive toward water. People of different ages have different water percentages. And this is especially obvious for humans. The younger one is, the higher the water percentage would be. As for that child, he has the water percentage of an adult."

The water elemental said, "I didn't discover anything specific as there is a Skysoar beside him. I can only sense his water composition. He is probably around 40 or 50 years old. He might even be older. As a cultivator, the water composition in his body will be different from a regular person, but it wouldn't be that big."

Su Yu had a pensive look. So that might be a fake child? He wasn't too surprised. That was a cultivator. Even some regular people could maintain the look of a child as an adult. Anything was possible in a world of cultivators.

Take the transformation faction as an example. Some of their students possessed transformation-related characters that would allow them to freely change their appearance.

"Not a real child..."

Su Yu laughed. Interesting. Since the soldiers knew them, it was clear they had been operating in the area for a long time. They were the members of a large local family. But the child...might actually be an adult in disguise?

Su Yu had not discovered anything. That child looked perfectly normal apart from that cold bearing. But Su Yu had assumed that the cold bearing was the result of an injury. But that cold bearing could very well be a persona because it wouldn't be convenient for the so-called child to speak.

"How's the strength of the Martial Dragon Guards stationed here?"

"They have one ninth-stage Skysoar." The shadow answered.

That was not weak at all. They were only stationed at a place like the Myriad Race Pit as the symbol of the Xia Family. Even Mountainseas would not dare to create trouble here.

But a ninth-stage Skysoar would probably not examine the young woman who was similarly a Skysoar too closely. That was basically a form of provocation. The soldier would only do so on suspicious individuals.

Su Yu did not say anything. He continued walking. Two Skysoars...that was nothing. He had two Cloudbreach beasts on him. But he still needed to be careful of any traps.

He kept going. The pressure around him kept growing stronger and the baleful qi in the air kept growing denser. Eventually, even the pathways were no longer visible. The only thing he could see was the bloody mist around him.

The mist was formed by the aura of resentment. Suddenly, the blood character in the sea of willpower shook and dispersed the bloody mist around him. The character had not absorbed any of the mist as the aura of resentment would not benefit it.

The lightning character moved as well. All around Su Yu, electrical currents lashed out and purified his surroundings. In fact, this was a way of tempering his characters. While doing so, he continued onward.

Suddenly, he noticed someone ahead of him.

At the same time he noticed that person, a voice rang out, "A war academy student is cultivating here. Please do not disturb me."

"My apologies."

Su Yu smiled and took a detour. He did not get a good look at who the other person was, but he really didn't care. He wanted to avoid any misunderstanding that he was trying to provoke the other party and invite unwanted trouble on himself.

Seeing that Su Yu had taken a detour without any hesitation, the man in the bloody mist offered a gesture of kindness. He said, "You should stop going ahead. Further ahead is the area where the corpses of the top experts are thrown. The source qi and willpower there are denser, but the baleful qi there is also very thick, making it dangerous to absorb the source qi there.

In truth, the death of a top expert would benefit a lot of people with the scattered source qi of the dead expert. A great example would be the dead Blood Fire Sect master from the previous incident.

But the source qi of the corpses here had long dispersed, and what little remained had converged to form an area filled with balefulness.

Hearing the reminder, Su Yu said, "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother."

Since the other party was a student, it was clear he wasn't a Skysoar yet. Thus, Su Yu had decided to politely address the other party as a senior brother.

The other man asked in astonishment, "You're an academy student as well?"

"Yeah. A cultural research academy."

"Cultural research academy? Nine Heavens or Great Xia?"

"Great Xia Cultural Research Academy."

The man grew even more astonished. He said, "Since you can remain so indifferent even this deep in, you are probably a top 100 student, right?"

Su Yu smiled, "I guess you can say so. Which academy are you from, Senior Brother?"

"Great Xia War Academy."

The two academies might not get along well with each other, but they weren't exactly enemies. Since they were fellow students, the other man turned even more friendly. He said, "You cultural researchers have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, so I won't try to stop you from going deeper. But you need to be careful. The corpses inside are all the corpses of Mountainseas. And if you go even further, you will start finding Sunmoon corpses as well. Dead Sunmoons are not as dangerous, but you still need to be careful lest the baleful qi destabilizes your sea of willpower."

"Thanks for the heads up, Senior Brother."

After thanking the other person one more time, Su Yu continued ahead.

After he left, a man walked out of the bloody mist. That was a young man who was clad in a short-sleeved shirt, with sharp facial features and short hair.

The man looked in Su Yu's direction and only saw a white, blurry figure. That must be a very strong student. The man himself was at his limits here, but that stranger was actually able to go deeper.

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The man sank into thought. After a while, a name came to him.

Su Yu!

A new student.

Was that him?

"What a surprise encounter."

The man smiled. He also felt somewhat regretful. He could no longer participate in the exchange between the academies this year. Otherwise, he would have loved to experience the strength of this famous new student himself.

But even he could probably still go and simply take a look even if he couldn't participate anymore. His juniors would probably have a hard time this year during the exchange. This Su Yu looked like an absolutely ruthless combatant. Just look at how casually he was treating the thick baleful qi in the air.

The man tossed the matter out of his mind and resumed his cultivation.

...

Not far ahead.

Su Yu looked behind him with his brow raised. That was an expert. It was likely that this was a highly ranked student in the Infinite Strength Ranking.

That person had opened quite a lot of acupoints.

As the other person wasn't too good at concealment, Su Yu was able to sense the dense source qi around that man with his powerful willpower even when he wasn't trying. The man had at least 108 acupoints, and had even fused some of them.

Taking the fused acupoints into consideration, that person had probably opened more than 108 acupoints.

Su Yu did not dwell on that matter. He was surrounded by the bloody mist. The further he went, the heavier the pressure on him became. Even his sea of willpower was starting to be attacked.

Unfortunately for the bloody mist, this new visitor was Su Yu. Right after the mist tried to approach his sea of willpower, his hammer would lash out and scatter the mist. One could say that he was completely unaffected.

He even had the leisure to mutter to himself that this mist created by the dead experts seemed rather unimpressive.

Eventually, when the pressure on him reached a certain level, he hopped off the pathway into the pit unhesitatingly. The stench in this part of the pit was not as bad as it was in the outer area.

After all, this was the place where the corpses of the experts were thrown. And the number of dead experts would definitely be lower than the number of dead weaklings. In fact, they would often go several years without killing a single expert that could be thrown into this part of the pit.

The corpses of the myriad races would be directly taken apart for materials. Thus, only the humans of the Myriad Race Cult would be thrown here after they were killed.

He landed on a piece of dried bone. Despite its apparent age, the bone was still tough enough to handle his weight. Su Yu did not pay much attention to the bones around him. From their age, they clearly did not belong to that dead sect master. That fellow had only been dead for half a year. And as a Sunmoon, his corpse was probably still perfectly preserved.

The longer Su Yu walked, the more active his hammer became. What was the hammer doing? Pounding on the invading bloody mist.

The mist down here was somewhat different as it was also corrosive in nature. It was likely that anyone below the Skysoar Realm would have a hard time surviving down here. Even Skysoars here would probably feel the same as Su Yu: weighed down by a massive pressure.

In fact, Su Yu would do a lot worse without the hammer in his head. There was still a shadow underneath him. But in this environment, it looked rather out of place.

After all, not even the sunlight could reach this deep. Thus, it was unnatural for one to have a shadow here. But unless one paid close attention, one would probably not notice this oddity.

...

He continued walking for a few hundred meters while the pressure on him continued growing. Eventually, an empty zone appeared ahead of him. The area was akin to a vacuum of the bloody mist that filled the area.

A single headless corpse could be seen on the ground. That corpse was single-handedly repelling all the bloody mist in the area.

Su Yu raised his brow.

Headless?

How cruel. Why had Xia Longwu removed this person's head? This sect master had died without even leaving a complete corpse behind.

Su Yu started wondering about the whereabouts of the missing head.

A Sunmoon warrior was capable of regrowing their body from a drop of blood. But due to the sheer strength of Xia Longwu, he had been able to eliminate all vitality in the body of this sect master with a single slash, making it impossible for the dead sect master to regrow his head.

At this moment, the water elemental trembled, "So strong!"

He wasn't referring to the dead sect master. Rather, he was referring to Xia Longwu. He had used only a single slash to kill this Sunmoon.

Just like how he had killed the master of the Blood Fire Sect the other day.

With a heavy tone, the water elemental said, "Don't go nearer. You might not be able to touch this corpse. The saber qi is concealed within, but Prefect Xia is too strong. The moment you cause the saber qi to scatter, you might be instantly killed."

Su Yu said, "I know. It will be fine. I also cultivate the Sky Sundering Saber. Since my cultivation method and the saber qi in the corpse have the same origin, I will be fine."

He was aware of the danger involved in this. Thus, he had done his research beforehand. Xia Longwu had killed this person with the Sky Sundering Saber. Since he cultivated the same method, unless he was an enemy, he would probably be left unharmed by the saber qi.

He walked ahead slowly with all 144 acupoints of the Sky Sundering Saber within his body shining brightly. His own saber qi came together to protect his body.

He might have claimed that he was unafraid, but he did not forget to say, "If the saber qi does end up attacking me, tank the attack for me while I run."

"..."

Both the water elemental and shadow were left speechless.

What an asshole!

They might end up dead doing that! That was the saber qi of someone near the Invincible Realm, also the same saber qi that had taken the life of a Sunmoon. Not even the two of them would be able to withstand it. If this bastard wanted to die, he might as well tell them to kill him and be done with it.

Chapter 506: Memory Fragment (2)

Su Yu continued approaching the corpse. Suddenly, a saber flashed out of the corpse and shot toward him.

Fast.

Incredibly fast.

But right when the saber reached his head, it stopped before fading away, seemingly having sensed something. Meanwhile, Su Yu was already drenched with sweat.

That was too terrifying. He couldn't even move a finger when that saber was flying toward him. He had nearly been killed. And the shadow and water elemental had actually not reacted.

"You..."

"Phfffft!"

Before he could finish his words, the shadow suddenly emerged from his shadow. Even though he couldn't see the shadow's expression, he could still sense the helplessness that was being emanated by the shadow.

"Lord, it's not that we didn't want to help, but we couldn't."

The mere aura of the saber qi was enough to nearly force him out of concealment. That was too terrifying.

Both the water elemental and shadow felt completely powerless.

Xia Longwu!

A super expert, an existence near the Invincible Realm. He was someone who could be considered a hegemon even in a place like the Allheaven Battlefield.

...

At the same time.

Great Xia City. Prefect's manor.

Inside a hidden chamber, Xia Longwu was in the middle of reading when he suddenly raised his head and looked in the Myriad Race Pit's direction.

After a short moment, he muttered in surprise, "What is he doing there?'

Then, he recalled something and the look in his eyes turned odd. Was the kid...aiming for the buried treasure of the Divine Skywing Sect? What a gutsy kid.

Back then, the sect master had used the buried treasure to bargain for his life. Xia Longwu couldn't be bothered and had slain the sect master with one slash. After the event, he had dispatched some people to search for the treasure. But due to a lack of discovery, he had tossed the matter out of his head.

As far as he was concerned, that treasure might not even exist. Even if it did exist, it might not really be too valuable. Would the divine skywing race actually give their running dogs something good?

Xia Longwu would probably be more interested if it were the buried treasure of the divine skywing race itself. For example, he would be very interested in raiding the realm of the divine skywing race. Of course, it wasn't likely that he would get to do it. That was also a race with Invincibles.

"You sure are brave. Are you not afraid of getting killed by accident?"

Xia Longwu laughed in amusement. Most people wouldn't dare to touch that corpse knowing that his saber qi was there. If it was someone from the cult, he wouldn't have cared if they were killed. But since Su Yu cultivated the Sky Sundering Saber, he should be fine.

Xia Longwu returned to his reading. It didn't matter what Su Yu decided to do. Su Yu was still someone from Great Xia so him finding the treasure would be the same as Great Xia itself finding the treasure. If Su Yu failed to find anything, then that would also be his own business.

Xia Longwu couldn't be bothered to pay too much attention to that matter. He continued cultivating his willpower. After all, he still wanted to push his willpower cultivation to the Sunmoon Realm as well.

...

At the same time, in the Myriad Race Pit.

Su Yu was dripping with cold sweat. But it wasn't like he hadn't gained anything from the scare. At this moment, the saber and kill characters in his sea of willpower were shining brightly.

They seemed to be absorbing something. That was a saber produced by an expert near the Invincible Realm. Even if a majority of its power had dispersed, what remained was still enough to benefit his characters. And with the final bit of saber qi dispersed, this Sunmoon corpse stopped posing any danger to Su Yu.

Su Yu took another step forward. The heavy sensation he felt previously had vanished completely. He did not bother with checking the dead body. Even before reaching the body, he sent his saber flying toward it. But even as a corpse, this sect master still possessed incredible defensive prowess. His saber had actually failed to leave even a cut on the corpse.

The water elemental suggested, "Extract the blood from the wound on the neck."

Su Yu thought of the same. He asked, "Is there any blood left in this corpse?"

"Yes."

"Good."

After exhaling in relief, Su Yu activated his blood character. Slowly, blood seeped out of the exceptionally smooth cut on the neck.

The water elemental was naturally very good at something like this as well.

Thus, he offered, "Do you need my help?"

"Sure."

The water elemental said nothing else. With his help, the speed the blood was being gathered increased. Shortly after, a drop of blood could be seen floating midair. This still couldn't be considered proper blood essence.

"You need to condense more blood together to form a proper drop of blood essence..."

The water elemental could guess what Su Yu was trying to do, but he didn't ask anything. Extracting the blood essence of dead enemies was actually a common practice among all the races.

One drop, two drops...

One drop of blood after another took form.

There was no trace of life in the blood. All life had been severed by that slash of Xia Longwu.

The blood character showed signs of wanting to absorb the extracted blood, but Su Yu did not allow it to do so. Extracting the blood essence of a human to observe the memory fragment was not the same as consuming human blood.

That was something that Su Yu still couldn't accept. Even though the blood of a Sunmoon could help his blood character grow greatly, this still wasn't a line he was willing to cross.

After forming over a dozen drops of blood in the air, the blood character jolted as Su Yu started refining all the extracted blood into blood essence. Once again, the water elemental offered his help, "I can help you with this. With my help, it will be faster."

Su Yu was somewhat speechless. This fellow sure was eager.

But he naturally wouldn't refuse more help. He said, "Get to work, then."

...

A few minutes later, a drop of blood essence took form.

With a wave of his hand, Su Yu grabbed the drop of blood essence.

"Keep watch for me. Tell me if anyone is approaching."

Then, he started working on the blood essence. After being taught by Bai Feng, he had practiced many times with soul devouring bug blood essence. And he had succeeded a few times before.

Of course, his success rate wasn't too high.

With the lack of the usual devices and machineries here, the success rate would naturally be even lower. Su Yu wasn't too worried. If he failed, he could extract more blood essence from the corpse.

This was his very first time seeing the blood essence of a human.

The blood essence of all other races would have a small silhouette swimming about in the middle of the droplet. But that wasn't the case for this drop of human blood essence. He wondered if this was due to the lack of racial ability.

First, he stripped the outer layer of the blood essence. The next step was separating the ability fragment and the memory fragment. Since humans did not have a racial ability, the second step was actually easier than usual.

...

About half an hour later.

Su Yu's brows were beaded with sweat. Carefully, he moved a tiny clump of black substance from the drop of blood essence. That was the memory fragment he was looking for.

It was great that there was no ability fragment to make his work more difficult.

But there were still some resentment and death qi left in the memory fragment. He needed to remove both before he could use the memory fragment. After another half an hour, Su Yu was finally able to extract a tiny transparent clump from the black clump.

He exhaled in relief. It was a success.

Phew.

It would seem like all his previous practices hadn't been for nothing. He wasted no time and sent a strand of source qi out and smashed through the tiny clump. Next, a blurry scene appeared before his eyes.

...

Two individuals could be seen.

But both were very indistinct.

Their appearances couldn't be seen clearly.

But after looking for a bit, Su Yu judged that the person on the left was the sect master. After all, the outfit on that person was the same as what he saw on the corpse.

The person on the right couldn't be seen clearly, and not even their conversation could be heard. Su Yu ignored the two and studied their surroundings. The two seemed to be in some sort of a palace.

He wasn't exactly sure if it was really a palace, but he committed the appearance of the place to memory.

After a short conversation between the two, the scene changed. This time, the person to the right was patting the sect master on his shoulder. At first, Su Yu wasn't paying that much attention. But he soon blanked out when he noticed that on the left arm of the person to the right, a symbol could be seen.

But when Su Yu tried to take a better look, the scene blurred and changed again.

This time, the sect master was alone. He was at a different location with a case in hand. He solemnly placed the case on a table before retreating.

"Treasure vault?"

Su Yu was overjoyed. So it really existed? Where was it?

Only the most memorable memories would be preserved in memory fragments. And the most memorable memory of the sect master was his conversation with the unknown individual. Second to that wasn't the treasure vault, but the case he had placed on the table.

What else?

Su Yu opened his eyes wide as he waited. He had seen the treasure vault, but he hadn't seen its location!

The Human Realm was massive. How was he supposed to locate it?

But after the sect master left the treasure vault, the memory projection ended.

"What?"

Su Yu cursed.

Fuck!

That was it?

Nothing else?

The scene had stopped playing suddenly!

That was all!

...

While Su Yu was busy cursing.

Within a large palace.

An expert in the middle of cultivation suddenly opened his eyes. He looked in a certain direction and muttered, "Someone is prying on me?"

His eyes flickered as he tried to see through something.

But right at that moment, a saber appeared in front of his eyes.

A loud pop sounded.

Blood dripped out of that person's eyes.

The blood dripped onto the ground, and black smoke rose from it.

"Sky Sundering Saber..."

That wasn't an actual attack by Xia Longwu. Rather, that was a scene from the past. This expert had stumbled upon the scene of Xia Longwu killing the sect master.

"Approaching the Invincible Realm? No...he's probably as strong as an Invincible already!"

Very strong.

The expert smiled and tossed the matter to the back of his mind. What could they possibly see from this attempt?

...

At the same moment. Inside the prefect's manor of Great Xia.

Xia Longwu frowned.

"What did...that kid stumble upon?"

Even the past was disturbed. He had actually encroached upon something belonging to the realm of Invincibles?

Fortunately, that had only lasted for a split second.

Xia Longwu's eyes flickered, but he couldn't discover anything. He could only shake his head helplessly. He still wasn't strong enough. He only had a vague sensation that something had happened, but he couldn't discover anything in detail.

He looked in the Myriad Race Pit's direction once again as he muttered, "Something related to the Divine Skywing Sect? Is it an Invincible from the divine skywing race?"

Or was it a different Invincible? It was hard for him to get the answer by guessing. Su Yu might know something. Perhaps he could get the little fatty to ask Su Yu about this matter.

...

Meanwhile, Su Yu was in a bad mood.

He spent some time cursing.

He had a gloomy expression.

The shadow said, "At the moment the sect master left the building, there was another scene. I think it should be a mountain..."

Su Yu said, "I noticed that. But it only appeared for a split second. How am I supposed to find it? I don't even know if it's within Great Xia. The Divine Skywing Sect was originally inactive in Great Xia. And the Human Realm is so big. I only know that it's a mountain. How am I supposed to find it?"

The shadow said, "It might not be in a different prefecture. As you said previously, the entire sect had arrived at Great Xia. Would they leave their treasure vault in their previous territory? They had probably planned to stay long term in Great Xia..."

"That's hard to say." Su Yu gloomily said, "I was too naive. Their treasure vault might have been emptied by the divine skywing race long ago. Or some surviving members could have done so as well. Or perhaps what I saw was the previous treasure vault prior to their migration into Great Xia."

Yes, he had been too naive before this. Just because he could see the treasure, it didn't mean that he could find it.

"I can only give it a try."

Su Yu sighed. But he wasn't too discouraged. He muttered, "Perhaps I can find it. I saw some plants. I hope these plants can only grow in certain places since I've never seen some of them before. I can look these plants up. Maybe I can discover something." ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel{f}ire.net

During the instance when the sect master left the building, Su Yu saw a mountain. It wasn't too big, and it looked very ordinary. But he did manage to see some of the plants there.

Some of these plants were unknown to him. That could only mean that these weren't commonly seen plants. Perhaps he could use this to deduce the location of the treasure vault.

All in all, this trip of his had been rather smooth. At the very least, he had managed to see the treasure vault from the memory fragment. But the deepest memory of the sect master was his conversation with an individual. Who was that person? An expert from the divine skywing race?

That person's status was definitely much higher than even the sect master. Patting the sect master's shoulder...normally, that was something a superior would do to their subordinates. Would any random person be allowed to pat the shoulder of a Sunmoon? The other person was probably a Sunmoon or stronger.

"A symbol on the left arm..."

Su Yu took note of that. Some new ideas appeared in his mind.

According to his previous guesses, the Divine Skywing Sect had entered Great Xia to not only move against Xia Longwu, but to do something else as well. Liu Wenyan might have been forced into the Skysoar Realm because someone wanted him to materialize his inherited character.

Thus, that sect master might have been under the influence of the Invincible traitor.

Was that the case?

Was that possible?

Could it be that the individual conversing with the sect master in the memory fragment was the Invincible traitor?

"A symbol on the arm..."

At the Invincible Realm, one could easily rebuild one's body. In fact, even Sunmoons were capable of that. Since this person had not removed the symbol from their arm, was this a special symbol? Or perhaps that person had a unique preference?

Or it might simply be a sort of mark?

"Is this the fellow who has been scheming against our multiple character faction from the shadows all these years?"

But shortly after, Su Yu cleared his mind of the matter. He needed to stop thinking about it.

If it was really an Invincible, even if he knew who the Invincible was, there was nothing he could do. He had no solid proof. Was he supposed to look for Great Xia King and instruct Great Xia King to kill a random Invincible based on his words alone? What a joke. Great Xia King wasn't his father. Why would Great Xia King listen to him?

"There's also that case...it is clearly extremely valuable, even for a Sunmoon. What's inside the case? Has it been used?"

The more Su Yu thought, the more troubled his mind was. He decided to forget about it for now. He would look around after returning. Perhaps the mountain was located right near the capital. Even if he couldn't find it, he could ask the people in his research center.

"Let's return. Stay concealed. I do hope that someone really decides to attack me."

But Su Yu still decided to be prudent. He took out a voice transmission talisman and said, "Fatty, come pick me up later. Be careful and don't let anyone notice you. Bring some experts with you."

Xia Huyou replied promptly, "You noticed an enemy?"

"I don't know. Check something for me. There's a Zhang Family near the Myriad Race Pit. The young madam of the family is a seventh-stage Skysoar. She has an injured son who is relying on baleful qi to suppress his injury..."

"Sure."

Xia Huyou agreed easily. This was no big issue.

He couldn't help but to wonder if Su Yu was too paranoid. Why was he viewing a random Skysoar he encountered as someone plotting against him? If he was so afraid, he should just stay in the academy.

He wasn't suspicious of the family, but for him, investigating a small family like this was not an issue at all. Thus, he did not say anything else and started gathering information about the Zhang Family.