Chapter 42 - 42

Chapter 572: Continuous Fishing (2)

Suddenly, intense source qi undulations erupted from the mountain ahead of them. The air warped as several dao protectors appeared. All of them were staring ahead with solemn expressions.

"Damn it, it's the blood devourer!" A middle-aged man with some black fur on his face exclaimed with a fretful expression.

The old man from the cloud tiger race said, "Stay calm. It's fine. That fellow won't be able to do much to Old Horse alone."

He added, "We'll continue observing. Only leave if Old Horse asks for help. We can't leave this place."

He might be saying that, but he was sneering inwardly. It would be even better if the old sky horse was killed. That would save them some trouble.

At this moment, two Mountainseas were engaging each other in combat ahead of them. Bloodmoon had launched a surprise attack, successfully injuring the old sky horse. However, the old sky horse was no pushover. The mountain itself seemed to be on the verge of collapse as the two fought.

A short while later, Bloodmoon fled as Great Mountain had shown himself.

"Chase him!"

With a roar, Great Mountain gave chase. The old sky horse did not hesitate and gave chase as well. Seeing that the old sky horse was still alive, the cloud tiger and the other dao protectors sighed inwardly in regret.

They had nearly forgotten that Great Mountain was nearby as well. With Great Mountain around, the old sky horse would remain alive.

Suddenly, the iron-winged bird, who was observing the pursuit in the sky, screeched.

At the same time.

A beam of light shot into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the beam pierced the iron-winged bird's head. With a boom, the iron-winged bird transformed into his original appearance of a massive bird. Alas, that bird was now headless. Its corpse started falling from the sky.

"Bastard!"

"Damn it!"

The other Mountainseas exclaimed in alarm. The expert from the cloud tiger race rushed over.

Seeing that, Su Yu hurriedly shouted, "Keep someone here. Watch out!"

With that, the expert from the cloud tiger race turned stiff for a split second. That gave the attacker the chance to put the headless bird corpse away before fleeing.

"Damn it!"

At this time, the old sky horse and Great Mountain had returned. The old sky horse cursed in fury, "It's someone from the devileye race. Damn it! How dare you kill an ally of humanity in Great Xia?"

Everything had happened too quickly. None of the dao protectors had expected that there would be a second Mountainsea hidden nearby.

The devileye race was very good at illusions, and that hidden expert was very strong. He had been able to hide from everyone and instantly kill a ninth-stage Cloudbreach with a sneak attack.

The attacker was none other than One-eye. Both One-eye and Bloodmoon had successfully escaped after the sneak attack.

Before long, both Great Mountain and the old sky horse returned to the group. Meanwhile, Zhan Fei had turned deathly pale. Someone was killed just like that? Everything had happened too quickly. He had lost his dao protector in the blink of an eye. Someone had been killed right in front of six Mountainseas.

Landing in front of Su Yu, Great Mountain's body shrunk to a regular size as he apologized, "Sorry. I failed to stop the attacker..."

Su Yu waved his hand. He looked at the others with a frown and solemnly said, "Two Mountainseas."

He then looked at Zhan Fei and apologetically said, "My apologies, Brother Zhan. I did not expect something like this to happen..."

The old sky horse's gloomy voice rang out, "It's not your fault. We were too careless. I was too focused on pursuing the blood devourer. Who would have guessed that there is a second enemy? Damn it!"

This was a bad start. There were six Mountainseas in the group yet a ninth-stage Cloudbreach had still been killed in their presence. The old man from the cloud tiger race had an unsightly expression. One of them had perished. Sure, that wasn't a Mountainsea, but they hadn't even reached their destination. He had not expected any of them to die before that.

***

At the same time.

High in the sky.

Two middle-aged men looked at each other silently.

After a while, one of them spoke with voice transmission, "Why is there another Mountainsea? Big Brother, should we make a move?"

These were the experts dispatched by Xia Huyou.

They were brothers.

The elder brother said, "No. Huyou said that we're only in charge of protecting Su Yu. We will ignore everything unless Su Yu himself requests for help. In any case, we still don't know who the true enemies are."

He was very confused. He only knew that he needed to keep Su Yu safe. That was his top priority. Even if they were to encounter the cult, that would be a matter for someone else to deal with.

With a gloomy expression, the younger brother asked, "Big Brother, who exactly are our targets? Su Yu must be keeping an eye out for the single character faction, right? Do you think that we're being tailed?"

"That's likely."

The elder brother said nothing else. He sighed inwardly as he gazed at the distant Su Yu. That was the cause of everything that had been happening. All the blood that would flow today would be on that youth's hands.

What an impressive young man. Was the death of that iron-winged bird a result of that youth's plotting as well? Where did the two Mountainsea beasts come from?

***

Even further away.

Both Yu Hong and Old Zheng were frowning. Yu Hong said, "Are both those fellows from the cult?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

Old Zheng was speechless. This was Great Xia. Yu Hong should know more.

Yu Hong took out a voice transmission talisman and started conversing with someone. After a short while, she said, "We're unclear. A lot of cultists have arrived. Not all of them know each other."

Old Zheng nodded and did not push for more answers. He preferred to know less about this. There was no saying what Yu Hong's source of information was.

"That iron-winged bird was too weak. How could he get himself killed so easily?"

Old Zheng was filled with contempt. No matter what, that was a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. How could someone like that die so easily? Sure enough, these minor race fellows were unreliable. The rıghtful source is NoveIꜰire.net

Somewhere else, Blood Rakshasha demanded, "Bloodmoon, what are you doing? We agreed to operate together. Why are you moving alone?"

"Hmph!" Bloodmoon replied, "Fool! I told you to help me earlier! Why hadn't you done anything? We need to kill those fellows any chance we get. Are we supposed to wait until we reach the ruin before fighting all of them with our lives on the line? Are you stupid? They have six Mountainseas. Do you think we stand a chance? We should kill as many of them as possible while they are still busy protecting those kids. Blood Rakshasha, do you have a brain?"

Bloodmoon added, "I already contacted a fellow daoist I know. We will be working together. Open a communication channel with your people. I'll talk to them. If we can't reach an agreement, we should just start working independently. Why are you waiting around doing nothing? This is stupid. Blood Rakshasha, is your Blood Fire Sect filled with idiots?"

Bloodmoon started questioning Blood Rakshasha, "Don't ruin the plan with your stupidity. Blood Rakshasha, if you don't want to do this, just give up. No wonder your Blood Fire Sect is doing so badly nowadays. It's because of fools like you."

He held nothing back, using this as a chance to blame the others for not trying hard enough. Otherwise, they would have been able to kill the old sky horse as well. Blood Rakshasha was rendered speechless. After a while, he created an open channel through the voice transmission talisman.

Immediately after, someone spoke in the channel, "Is the friend from the blood devourer race looking for us?"

"Yes. I am wondering if your group is really aiming for the ruin. Or perhaps you're planning something behind my back? They have six Mountainseas and several Cloudbreach cultivators. Why are we not weakening them any chance we get? Are we supposed to face them all head-on at the end? We should focus on capturing Su Yu."

Someone replied, "What do you think, Blood Rakshasha? We're also getting curious. It's not a good idea to keep waiting and doing nothing."

Blood Rakshasha said, "I understand your worries. Everyone, Su Yu is clearly aiming for the ruin. We don't necessarily need to capture him right now. We can let him lead us to the ruin instead. We don't want to alarm him before even reaching the ruin. He is already scared after the attacks earlier. I'm afraid that if we apply more pressure on him, he will give up on the ruin for now."

Not everyone in the group had received the same information. Unlike some of the people in the group, Blood Rakshasha knew very well that Su Yu was heading toward the ruin. Some of the others were unaware of that, so they were planning to capture Su Yu before interrogating him about the ruin.

Blood Rakshasha could understand Bloodmoon's urgency, so he couldn't help but feel rather helpless. This sense of urgency might end up ruining their plan. Left with no choice, he could only tell them the truth, "We can only make further plans after reaching the ruin. Even if we capture him now, we can't guarantee that he will tell us the location of the ruin. Fellow Daoist Bloodmoon, please don't do anything rash."

After giving his explanation, he asked, "Is that devileye your friend, Fellow Daoist Bloodmoon?"

"No." Bloodmoon said, "I encountered him not long ago. LIke you, he came to me with a proposal to work together after my previous attack. He sounded more reliable than you so we decided to work together. He suggested that we kill some of their experts and weaken them. The plan sounded feasible so we did just that."

Blood Rakshasha was helpless to hear that. He asked, "Can you contact him? If this keeps happening, Su Yu will eventually change his plan and stop heading toward the ruin. That will only make things difficult for us."

Bloodmoon said, "You only have yourself to blame for hiding important information from us. Blood Rakshasha, if you're not sincere in working together, we can part ways. If you really want to work together, stop hiding things from us. Six Mountainseas can't be dealt with so easily. Rather than killing six Mountainseas for the ruin later, I still think that we have a higher chance of kidnapping Su Yu from them and interrogate him for the ruin. Friends, what do you think?"

"I agree. Capturing Su Yu is much easier than killing six Mountainseas. We only need to launch a few more attacks. Some of them might decide to turn around in order to protect the geniuses of their races. That would be our chance."

Someone else started questioning Blood Rakshasha. Knowing what they were worried about, Blood Rakshasha hurriedly said, "Everyone, we still have other allies."

"Are they Mountainseas?"

"Yes."

Bloodmoon asked, "Who are they? I feel like we should really part ways. We have too many Mountainseas. How are we supposed to split the rewards? We are better off working independently. The lucky one will get Su Yu."

Blood Rakshasha said, "Our allies are not interested in the ruin."

"Would anyone believe that?" Bloodmoon suddenly exclaimed, "You're not talking about the single character faction, right? It's possible that they're only here to kill Su Yu. I can't imagine anyone from the cult will be willing to give up on the ruin."

"Yes."

"How many of them are here? Be careful lest we end up stabbed by them in the back. Blood Rakshasha, I honestly can't bring myself to trust your plan. Maybe they're working with Great Xia to exterminate all of us instead."

Chapter 573: Continuous Fishing (3)

After questioning Blood Rakshasha's plan yet again, Bloodmoon left the communication channel and crushed his voice transmission talisman. He then left. The other people in the channel sank into silence.

All of them were starting to get worried. Cooperating with the single character faction? Were they really uninterested in the ruin? These cultists were all worried that the single character faction would stab them in the back.

"Blood Rakshasha, your plan is very...shocking. Is the single character faction your trump card? If that's the case, we are better off working alongside the blood devourer and devileye. That would be much better than working with the single character faction."

The two Mountainseas in the channel started questioning the plan as well. Three Mountainseas had arrived from the cult.

Among them, Blood Rakshasha was the strongest. That was why they had been willing to follow his plan. But after learning that they had to work with the single character faction, they decided that they would rather work with the two myriad race members instead. At the very least, all of them were the enemies of Great Xia. They wouldn't need to worry about the other party working with Great Xia to stab them in the back.

Blood Rakshasha was somewhat speechless. Bloodmoon hadn't even given him the chance to finish his explanation. He was starting to regret opening the communication channel. He said, "Fellow Daoist Bloodmoon is worrying too much. The single character faction wouldn't dare to betray us. I'm no fool. Why would I agree to work with them without any assurance? I know some information that can ensure their cooperation. If I end up leaking that information, they will suffer a lot as well."

"What information do you have?"

"I won't be able to reveal that. Just trust me."

The other two stopped asking, but they were still worried. They even started thinking about contacting Bloodmoon and the devileye instead of working with Blood Rakshasha. With four Mountainseas working together, they would be able to protect themselves against Blood Rakshasha's betrayal.

While Bloodmoon was sowing chaos among the cultists, Su Yu was speaking with a solemn expression.

Looking at Zhan Fei, he said, "Brother Zhan, my condolences. The death of that senior is out of my expectation. Our enemies are too audacious. So far, two Mountainseas have appeared. I'm afraid the information regarding this trip has leaked."

He looked at the others and said, "After thinking about it, I've decided to stop putting all of you in danger. Let's cancel this mission and return to the academy. We already lost a dao protector before even reaching our destination."

The hearts of Xia Qing and the others skipped a beat upon hearing that. They had the urge to curse at someone. And who were they cursing?

Well, it was naturally the useless iron-winged bird. How could that bird be so weak that he was killed so easily? Su Yu seemed to have been frightened by that death and was thinking of giving up now. Damn it!

Wouldn't this render all their hard work so far pointless? Xia Qing gazed at Zhan Fei, hinting at him that they couldn't give up right now. They had already gone this far. There was no guarantee that Su Yu would take them with him the next time he left for the ruin. This could very well be their sole chance.

Suppressing the indignation in his heart, Zhan Fei said, "Brother Su, I don't want to return! I wish to avenge my elder! The two attackers will not give up. They will definitely appear again..."

Looking at the other dao protectors, Zhan Fei spoke with a sorrowful tone, "Zhan Fei wishes to ask for a favor from the seniors here. Please avenge my elder for me. The iron-winged race will remember this favor."

He did not want to leave. Nor could he afford to leave. Sure, he might have lost an elder here, but Xia Qing and the others wouldn't spare him if he agreed to return now. Thus, he had to use revenge as an excuse and persuade Su Yu to keep going.

Su Yu's expression remained the same, but he was sneering inwardly. He knew this would be the result. It didn't matter if the elder was dead. Since Zhan Fei was a part of Xia Qing's group, he would not be allowed to leave. Those dao protectors would probably agree to his request any moment now.

And sure enough, the old man from the cloud tiger race said, "That is only natural. Those bastards actually dared to kill right in front of us. We won't spare them!"

The other dao protectors also voiced their support. It didn't matter if they were willing to help Zhan Fei or not. Since everything had happened under their watch, they had to agree to Zhan Fei's request.

After showing some hesitation, Su Yu clenched his teeth and said, "Fine! We'll keep going! Honestly, I also find returning at this time unacceptable after losing an elder to the mission. Seniors, please be careful after this. Do not separate from the group carelessly."

Inwardly, he was sneering again. More suffering would await these dao protectors. He would slowly wipe them out one after another. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novelFɪre.net

He did not forget to maintain his act as he said, "Ji Xiaomeng, you guys should return. I'll have Senior Great Mountain escort you back. You're not their target. They won't do anything to you guys..."

The others exchanged gazes before shaking their heads.

Su Yu stopped persuading and asked Zhou Hao, "Are you leaving? I can get someone to send you back if you want."

Zhou Hao replied, "Since they're not leaving, I have nothing to fear. You're their target anyway, not me."

"..."

Su Yu laughed. Sure. Things were already dangerous enough with a Cloudbreach dead. At this point, it was already clear that these people were all here for their own motives. He wasn't stupid enough to believe their stupid excuse that they had joined this mission to temper themselves.

Whatever. He had done his part by advising them to leave repeatedly. Since they insisted on staying, there was no need for him to do anything else. Even if they ended up dead, he wouldn't pity them.

Anyone still here was most definitely here for their reasons. In that case, they would need to take responsibility for their choice. He would not care if they ended up dying after this.

Meanwhile, Su Yu noticed the expressions of several myriad race students changing. He guessed that these students probably wanted to leave, but they were clearly too embarrassed to say so.

For example, that sky horse youth was no longer as relaxed as before. He had a look of hesitation on his face. And the girl from the mountain antelope race...Su Yu personally found it awkward to call her a girl due to the antlers on her head, but she also had a look of hesitation. Anyone with such an expression was unlikely to be a part of Xia Qing's group.

Su Yu couldn't be bothered to say more. Since these people had ultimately decided to stay, he wouldn't bat an eye even if they ended up dying.

"Sure. We'll proceed. Senior Great Mountain, continue hiding near us. Don't let our enemies detect you. Keep hiding and serve as the deterrent for any potential attackers."

"Sure."

Instantly, Great Mountain vanished into thin air.

Su Yu looked at the old man from the cloud tiger race and said with an apologetic tone, "This must be the senior from the cloud tiger race. Senior, the cloud tigers are known for their speed. Could I trouble you to scout ahead of us to prevent further ambushes?"

The old man was naturally unwilling to part from the main group, but their flight specialist, the iron-winged bird expert, was dead. He was indeed the fastest dao protector left.

After thinking about it, he said nothing and vanished into thin air as well. Now that he was on alert against any potential attackers, he wouldn't be killed by a sneak attack like the iron-winged bird.

It might not necessarily be a bad thing for him to part from the main group. This would make it easier for him to contact some people and demand some answers. Those bastards had promised him a smooth trip. Why had two Mountainseas still appeared to kill one of them?

The cloud tiger expert was actually quite furious about that. That fellow from the iron-winged bird might not be too strong, but they were still working together. Thus, the cloud tiger expert couldn't help but worry if the single character faction had decided to turn on them as well.

***

Not long after.

Tianshui City.

This city was not too far away from Su Yu's group. Within a large building, Zhou Pingsheng was frowning deeply after checking a message he had just received through his talisman.

He explained, "That's a misunderstanding. Those Mountainseas came from outside Great Xia. We were not in touch with them previously. I'll deal with them."

Zhou Pingsheng couldn't help but curse. Garbage. They had lost a Cloudbreach due to their own carelessness. How dare they demand answers from him?

He went deeper into the building and softly spoke in front of a door, "Elder Li, they are near Tianshui, but the cult is getting somewhat troublesome..."

"Don't tell me anything." Elder Li's indifferent voice rang out from beyond the door, "I don't know any cultists. Pingsheng, deal with this yourself."

"..."

Zhou Pingsheng was furious. Damn that Elder Li! Even now, that Elder Li was still trying to keep himself clean. At this point, did he still believe that he could avoid responsibility if they ended up caught?

But after thinking about it, Zhou Pingsheng couldn't help but agree that Elder Li might really be able to escape full responsibility in the event of exposure. If they were caught for attempting to murder Su Yu, they would probably be exiled. But if they were caught consorting with the cult, they would definitely die regardless of whether they were successful at killing Su Yu or not.

Zhou Pingsheng was infuriated. Even now, these people were still thinking only for themselves. It was no wonder that the single character faction would suffer loss after loss. These people were too selfish.

They had already decided to do something as drastic as committing murder, but the elders were still unwilling to expose themselves. Instead, Zhou Pingsheng was the one forced to maintain contact with the cult.

Zhou Pingsheng was unwilling to accept this. Sure, he wasn't strong, but he had a high status as he was Zhou Mingren's student. Since the cult was blackmailing him with the knowledge that he was working with the cult, they were not afraid that the single character faction would betray them during this operation.

If something bad happened, Zhou Pingsheng would not survive. And even Zhou Mingren might end up implicated. Meanwhile, people like Yu Hong and Elder Li might still be able to escape being accused of consorting with the cult. They could always find a way to deny everything unless they were caught red-handed working with the cult.

All those selfish assholes can forget about escaping scot-free if anything happens to me.

Despite his fury, Zhou Pingsheng still answered obedienly, "I understand, Elder. I'll work on it."

"Go."

Zhou Pingsheng turned around and left while still simmering with rage. This was all Su Yu's fault. He wouldn't have been forced to become the intermediary for their connection with the cult if it wasn't for Su Yu.

Chapter 574: Traces of Mountainseas (1)

Su Yu's group continued their journey.

At the same time.

One-eye finally met Xue'e. He went straight to the point and ordered, "Attack Su Yu's group, create chaos, and split them up."

Xue'e was an expert from the Blood Fire Sect who had once organized an attack on Beifeng City's convoy when Su Yu was on his way to the capital. He had since defected from the Blood Fire Sect, preparing to establish a new Divine Skywing Sect with a group of people.

Xue'e had an unsightly expression as he glared at the Cloudbreach beside him. That bastard had set him up! There was a Mountainsea here!

"Lord..."

Xue'e smiled and said, "I am naturally willing to attack Su Yu. But their group is protected by Mountainseas. Meanwhile, we don't even have many experts above the Skysoar Realm. I'm afraid we won't be able to force them to split up..."

He did not intend to go on a suicide mission. Unlike his ignorant subordinates, he was aware that Su Yu's group was under the protection of several powerful experts. What was the point of throwing their lives away pointlessly?

One-eye's face turned cold as he questioned, "Are you refusing my order?"

"I wouldn't dare!"

Xue'e said, "Lord, I believe head-on attacks won't do much. We will only be throwing our lives away without achieving anything."

One-eye thought to himself that this was indeed his goal. He wanted these people to throw their lives away. Su Yu had said that he wanted to fight more enemies to temper himself and earn a little bit of money. Thus, One-eye was trying to help Su Yu with that.

But it was clear these people wouldn't be fooled so easily. How surprising. Wasn't the Blood Fire Sect supposed to be filled with lunatics? Wasn't it supposed to be easy to instigate these fellows to throw their lives away? Why was this guy refusing?

Seeing that One-eye was frowning, Xue'e hurriedly said, "Of course, I understand what you're trying to achieve. You wish to split them up before eliminating them one by one, right?"

"But I doubt a head-on attack can achieve that. We need to focus on splitting those myriad race students from the group. Since those experts are the dao protectors, they will naturally split up once the students are split."

One-eye coldly asked, "What are you trying to say?"

"Through my observation, there are some cloud tigers, foxes, barbaric bulls, and some other races in the group. Lord, have you heard of something called the Celestial Fox Saliva?"

One-eye's expression changed slightly as he said, "Yes."

Xue'e smiled and said, "I have some in my possession. This thing isn't too useful for the other races, but it is very attractive for foxes. I heard that this thing is capable of purifying their bloodline and allowing them to achieve evolution. And the fox race is very sensitive toward this thing. They can smell it even from dozens of kilometers away..."

One-eye stared at Xue'e without saying anything.

With a smile, Xue'e suggested, "Lord, let's take it slow. We'll lure the fox expert away from the group first. We can get a Cloudbreach to set up an ambush from far away before fleeing with the saliva on them. In this situation, would the fox race expert give chase?"

One-eye frowned as he said, "They won't leave rashly since they know that things are getting dangerous. Even if they do give chase, more than one Mountainsea might give chase together."

The idea was decent, but after the death of one Cloudbreach in the group, they might not be willing to give chase to any escaping enemies anymore. One-eye even started regretting his decision to kill that iron-winged bird. Without that death, the fox Mountainsea would have been much easier to isolate from the group.

Unfortunately, he had found out about this saliva too late. After all, the Celestial Fox Saliva was only effective against the fox race. Thus, people would rarely carry this item on them. Where had Xue'e found something like this?

"Lord, why don't we give it a try?" Xue'e said, "Send a few cannon fodder over to make them numb. After a while, they might even get comfortable again. Even if that fox Mountainsea can resist the temptation, that fox student might not be able to do the same."

One-eye coldly said, "But that student might not be willing to leave alone. He can also instigate the entire group to go with him. In that situation, wouldn't the saliva be a free gift to them?"

Xue's smiled and said, "There's no harm in trying, right? It's not like the saliva is a valuable treasure. It only works for the fox race. We won't lose much even if our plan fails."

What Xue'e left unmentioned was the fact that the saliva wasn't even his in the first place. Why would he care about losing it? And why should this One-eye care about losing it? For now, Xue'e's priority was his life. He did not wish to throw his life away attacking a group with several Mountainseas.

After a short silence, One-eye nodded and said, "Fine. Give it a try. I suppose your cowardice is presenting us with a new plan."

Xue'e cursed inwardly. He was about to say something when One-eye grabbed him. A ray of light shot out of One-eye's third eye and landed on Xue'e's body.

"If you decide to flee, you better find a way to withstand my Devileye Fire or you won't be able to escape death."

Xue'e cursed inwardly again. He could only hope that this bastard would perish during this operation or he would never regain his freedom. Get full chapters from novel_fіre.net

***

Su Yu's group moved nearer and nearer to Tianshui. They encountered a few more attacks, but these attackers were quite weak. The strongest among them was only at the Skysoar Realm.

These attackers were mainly some random unimportant members of the cult. Thus, they were probably clueless about the fact that Su Yu's group was under the protection of several Mountainseas.

No, they were definitely clueless or they wouldn't have been able to gather the courage to attack. But as more and more people were killed, the number of attacks started dropping. Even the low-ranking members were starting to see the danger posed by Su Yu's group.

Meanwhile, Bai Ce was starting to get distracted, constantly looking in a certain direction. He smelled something. The others couldn't smell it, but as a member of the fox race, he was able to smell the Celestial Fox Saliva.

Someone was tailing them from dozens of kilometers away. More importantly, that someone was carrying a drop of Celestial Fox Saliva.

Bai Ce's very blood was stirring in excitement. Was this a trap or was this a coincidence? Was the tail truly staying so far away from them out of fear? He was sure that his elder had smelled the saliva as well.

Whenever the group stopped, the tail would stop, constantly maintaining the same distance between them. The constant stirring of his excited bloodline caused Bai Ce a huge amount of discomfort.

Suddenly, Su Yu looked at him and asked, "Brother Bai, did you injure yourself?"

Bai Ce hurriedly explained, "No. I'm simply worried. Are there more experts tailing us?"

"Don't worry about it." Su Yu smiled, "At this point, we only need to stay calm and stick together. It won't be that easy for our enemies to deal with six Mountainseas."

After gazing ahead, Su Yu said, "We will reach Tianshui in two hours. But we won't be entering the city as we don't want to bring them any trouble. A few hours after that, we'll reach Nanyuan."

Bai Ce said nothing, but his bloodline was stirring harder and harder. Damn it! Celestial Fox Saliva! He wanted to get it, but should he come clean? Would Su Yu even agree to help him? That was highly unlikely. After all, this might be a trap.

Bai Ce forced his bloodline to calm down. He kept telling himself that this was a trap. Both he and his elder should stay calm. They couldn't let this trap fool them. He repeatedly told himself that this was only the Celestial Fox Saliva. There was nothing special about that. Sure, that was very useful for their race, but he definitely didn't care about it.

High in the sky.

Instead of staying together, the Mountainseas were scattered all around the group. The fox race Mountainsea had also smelled the Celestial Fox Saliva a long time ago. He constantly looked in the direction of the saliva with an uncertain expression.

He also believed that this was a trap. He could clearly sense that the person carrying the saliva was a Cloudbreach who had been following them yet lacked the courage to approach them.

"This is a trap. I can't fall for it."

He would only be willing to go if the other Mountainseas were willing to go as well. At that thought, his eyes flickered and he sent a voice transmission to the other Mountainseas, "A Cloudbreach behind us is trying to lure me over with Celestial Fox Saliva. The two Mountainseas from earlier might be hiding nearby. Why don't we join hands and deal with them?"

Upon hearing that, the other Mountainseas looked at each other in hesitation.

While they were considering the proposal, the barbaric bull race Mountainsea said, "Sure. But you need to give us an appropriate payment for the help."

Since the old bull had agreed, the Mountainseas from the sky horse race and the mountain antelope race found it hard to disagree even though they didn't feel like agreeing. But it wouldn't reflect well on them if they disagreed now.

The fox race Mountainsea said, "They might have two or three Mountainseas waiting in hiding. We can keep two Mountainseas here and launch a surprise attack on them with the rest of us. They are looking down on us too much. We might all come from different races, but we are all allies of humanity. How would I hide this from everyone and step into a trap?"

The fox race Mountainsea snorted inwardly. Did the people trying to bait him over think that they were the same as the cult? Ignoring everyone else, the barbaric bull race and the cloud tiger race were currently allied to him. How would he hide this from them and take the risk alone? He definitely wanted to get his hands on the Celestial Fox Saliva, but he would not lose his life taking it.

Before long, a group of experts flew toward the tail. As the sky above Su Yu warped, he looked up and saw several figures flying away from them. He frowned, disappointed that the fox race Mountainsea had not left alone. Whatever. It wasn't like he had placed a lot of hope on this ploy.

Wasn't Xue'e very good at running? Time to put that talent to use again.

Xue'e was a name even Su Yu knew. After all, that was someone who had attacked the Beifeng students on the same day he was heading to the capital. Even after the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy dispatched several elders to hunt him down, he still managed to survive until now.

Further away from the group, Xue'e sensed the movement of multiple Mountainseas and cursed before fleeing without hesitation. Why were the other Mountainseas helping that fox? How idiotic! Would it benefit them if the fox race Mountainsea grew stronger? Well, time for Xue'e to run since his plan had failed.

He turned into a bloody arrow and shot away, instantly vanishing into thin air. But since he had the Celestial Fox Saliva on him, the fox race Mountainsea was able to sense his location. Thus, the fox race Mountainsea gave chase alongside the old mountainsea antelope and a ninth-stage Cloudbreach.

***

Seeing that, Su Yu frowned and shouted, "Seniors, don't go too far. Be careful lest this is a trap."

He would be more than happy to see them fall into a trap, but he still needed to put up an act, right? It didn't matter anymore. One-eye and the others wouldn't be able to deal with two Mountainseas and a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. What a pity.

Su Yu decided to give up on this plan. Perhaps he should settle with getting Xue'e killed. After all, the attack on Nanyuan's convoy during his journey to the capital had also been organized by Xue'e. Thus, Xue'e could also be considered an enemy of his. Sure, Su Yu himself was fine, but a few students had still perished in that attack.

The group resumed their journey. Right at that moment, a series of loud noises erupted ahead of them. Great Mountain appeared.

With a roar, he swung his axe. A blood moon rose in front of him, but the moon was instantly cleaved apart. At the same time, the old sky horse showed himself as well. Just as the old sky horse was about to provide support, Su Yu said, "Don't go!"

He couldn't allow the old sky horse to go.

Chapter 575: Traces of Mountainseas (2)

Forced to stop, the old sky horse shouted, "Old Fox, come back!"

Damn it!

The old fox had left with the old mountain antelope. Thus, only he and the barbaric bull race Mountainsea were left here. The cloud tiger Mountainsea was scouting the way somewhere further away from them. This was the location of the main group, so he couldn't afford to leave. Right at that moment, a clump of fire appeared behind Great Mountain.

"Watch out!"

The old sky horse warned and sent a ranged attack over. But by the time his attack reached the clump of fire, it had been weakened enough that it couldn't do much. As a result, Great Mountain's body was ignited.

At this moment, the cloud tiger and the old fox finally returned. That was the fire of the devileye expert. After successfully landing an attack, both One-eye and Bloodmoon retreated.

"Do not pursue a cornered enemy!" Su Yu shouted again, "Stop chasing. They are trying to split us up. Stop moving away."

After saying that, he looked at Great Mountain. At this moment, Great Mountain arrived in front of him and shrunk to a smaller size. A clump of fire was still burning on Great Mountain's body. His face was pale from the injury.

"I was hit by the Devileye Fire..." Great Mountain grumbled, "This is somewhat troublesome. Unless the enemy is willing to remove the fire, I'll be spending some time to deal with it. My combat strength will drop further if I don't deal with it."

At this point, the other Mountainseas had also arrived. They all frowned when they saw the fire burning on Great Mountain's body.

The old fox had an apologetic look as he said, "Brother Great Mountain, I'm sorry. We..."

He had led a few people away to snatch the Celestial Fox Saliva, but the trap was not even aimed at him. Instead, Great Mountain was the one who had fallen victim. Things were going to get troublesome. With the Devileye Fire burning him, Great Mountain's combat strength would drop sharply.

Of course, the fox didn't really care that much. In fact, he was inwardly pleased to see this. But he still needed to keep the act, right?

Su Yu frowned and asked, "Senior Great Mountain, with this injury, do you still have the combat strength of a Mountainsea?"

"Yes, but the fire will slowly seep into my body. My combat strength will keep dropping."

"How long do you need to deal with the fire?"

"This is the Devileye Fire. And the attacker is stronger than me. I need to spend three days and three nights suppressing it with my full strength. And it won't even be easy."

Su Yu frowned and said, "We can't afford to wait that long. More and more enemies will gather around us as news about us spreads. Since we're going to lose a Mountainsea..."

He clenched his teeth and said, "Retreat. We must retreat! Our enemies are trying to weaken us. We can't give them the chance to do more. Senior Great Mountain's injury is too heavy..."

Great Mountain said nothing. The old sky horse was also indifferent about retreating. But those from the fox, barbaric bull, and cloud tiger races couldn't agree to this. If Su Yu ended up retreating right now, the single character faction would not spare them.

The cloud tiger elder hurriedly said, "The Devileye Fire is troublesome, but if we join hands, we can still suppress it."

Great Mountain said, "No. That will exhaust your strength. And this is probably their goal. It's not easy for Mountainseas to recover their energy. With the low source qi density here, recovery will be even harder."

The cloud tiger elder smiled and promised, "It's fine. With all of us working together, the exhaustion won't be too bad. Don't worry about it, Brother Great Mountain. We'll help you!"

At this point, they had to start trying harder. If Great Mountain's injury was allowed to worsen, Su Yu might really retreat out of fear. Thus, the cloud tiger elder had no choice but to offer help even if he really wanted to kill Great Mountain. It was still too early for that. They hadn't even reached the ruin.

Great Mountain looked at Su Yu for his opinion. With a frown, Su Yu asked, "Seniors, will it be exhausting for you to help with the fire?"

"It won't be too bad."

The cloud tiger elder smiled and explained, "We will be able to fully recover within a day."

"In that case...I'll have to trouble you, Seniors."

They smiled and said nothing. Just as they were about to start, Su Yu suggested, "I think one or two Mountainseas should maintain their full strength. Senior Sky Horse and Senior Cloud Tiger are in charge of scouting ahead and covering our rear. The two of them need to maintain more strength. I'll have to trouble the other seniors instead."

The old sky horse wanted to say something, but he ultimately decided against it. He should stick with covering the rear.

As for the cloud tiger elder, he looked at Su Yu and the fox elder. When the fox elder saw the cloud tiger elder's expression, he realized that the cloud tiger elder agreed with Su Yu's suggestion. Thus, he smiled in agreement. This would do as well.

Su Yu probably still trusted them. He wouldn't have suggested something like this otherwise.

"That's acceptable."

The elders from the fox, barbaric bull, and mountain antelope races did not object. They started helping Great Mountain with the Devileye Fire. Everything proceeded smoothly as they slowly suppressed the fire.

One-eye might be strong, but including Great Mountain, four Mountainseas were working together. Thus, the fire couldn't pose them much issue. While the fire was slowly weakening, their expressions started turning pale. But they persisted since they were on the verge of success. Right at this moment, the fire erupted in intensity.

Boom!

Out of nowhere, the fire grew stronger.

The weakest of the elders, the barbaric bull elder, was instantly set aflame. The other elders were alarmed and hurriedly helped suppress the newly erupted fire.

After a while, the fire died down. Great Mountain was deathly pale. He cursed and said, "That bastard is still hiding nearby. He set my acupoints aflame earlier..."

He looked terrible even though the fire was no longer burning on his body. Beside him, the unlucky barbaric bull elder was also in a bad condition. The barbaric bull elder was furious, but he had no venue to vent his anger.

Holy shit!

His injury was quite heavy, and it was all Great Mountain's fault. The Devileye Fire had greatly increased in might after setting Great Mountain's acupoints aflame. Without the help of the other Mountainseas, he would have suffered even more.

And because of this, the fox and mountain antelope elders were greatly exhausted from dealing with the fire. Of course, there was nothing they could say since Great Mountain was still the one who had suffered the most. He had lost even a few of his acupoints to the fire. He would probably need to spend a long time recovering from that.

Great Mountain gloomily said, "I'm still somewhat fine. A few of my acupoints are lost, but without the fire on me, I can still unleash the combat strength of a Mountainsea. I will fully recover after a period of rest. Thank you for your help, friends."

After saying his thanks, Great Mountain vanished yet again.

Su Yu hurriedly suggested, "Senior Great Mountain, I think we should let Senior Sky Horse take on the role of scouting around us. In your condition, our enemy might decide to launch more sneak attacks on you. You should stay with the elders who have exhausted themselves suppressing the fire. Don't give our enemies a chance to take advantage of your condition."

Hearing that, Great Mountain reappeared. The old sky horse said, "I'll go. You should stay here to avoid further ambushes."

"Fine...Be careful, friend."

Great Mountain sounded helpless as he looked at the other Mountainseas and said, "I'll have to be troubling you for now."

"Not at all. It was our fault for being careless in the first place."

The fox elder readily accepted Great Mountain into the fold since Great Mountain's injury was indeed heavy. He was fine with this since the old sky horse was not involved in their plan anyway.

The barbaric bull elder asked, "Did you manage to get the Celestial Fox Saliva? The enemies have deliberately lured you out to launch that attack. It would be a great loss if you didn't manage to at least get the saliva."

"I did. That Cloudbreach dropped the saliva before fleeing."

The fox elder smiled happily. He considered himself quite lucky as he had not suffered any injury. He had only used up some source qi for the Celestial Fox Saliva. In his opinion, this trade was absolutely worth it.

Meanwhile, Great Mountain and the barbaric bull elder were quite unlucky, but there was nothing he could do about it. Who would have guessed that their enemies would be brazen enough to launch an attack on Great Mountain instead? Great Mountain could only blame himself for being too stupid and not grouping up with the others the moment there was a disturbance. He would have been fine with multiple Mountainseas around him.

The fox elder was in a great mood as he was practically the biggest winner from that little episode.

The group resumed their journey. Meanwhile, Su Yu had an odd look in his eyes. He realized that none of the three beast Mountainseas on his side was a pushover. Some of the things the three had done so far were his ideas, but some weren't.

For example, this sneak attack on Great Mountain was something they had thought up on the spot.

He was only aware that the entire attack was an act because he was in cahoots with them. Nobody else could guess the truth. With this little ploy of theirs, they had been able to seriously injure the barbaric bull elder.

More importantly, this ploy had also allowed Great Mountain to join the main Mountainsea group. Prior to this, he had stayed away because the other Mountainseas didn't know him and he didn't have a good reason to stay with them.

But now, he was able to join the group without inviting any suspicion.

In fact, he was able to earn the empathy of the barbaric bull elder since both of them had suffered from the Devileye Fire. As for the fox elder, he would feel like he owed the others a favor as this all had happened because of him. Even if he didn't really feel that way, he had to pretend that it was the case.

Su Yu smiled. So be it. Since Great Mountain had done all this to join the group, he would allow Great Mountain the freedom to improvise. This was not necessarily a bad thing. With Great Mountain's injury, the other Mountainseas would be less wary of him.

***

At the same time.

Atop a certain mountain.

One-eye was staring at Xue'e, who had just returned to him. With a fawning smile, Xue'e said, "Lord, your plan worked perfectly. We managed to injure one of their Mountainseas. Your wisdom is truly worthy of my admiration..."

One-eye didn't even deign to give a reply. After a short wait, Bloodmoon arrived. Xue'e's expression changed, but he did not dare to say anything. A short while later, three individuals arrived together. It was Blood Rakshasha and his allies.

"Bloodmoon, Devileye...you..."

Blood Rakshasha was furious. These two were too brazen. They had launched yet another attack against Su Yu's group.

At this time, his gaze landed on the third person there. He coldly asked, "Xue'e?"

Xue'e was alarmed. Damn it! This was Blood Rakshasha!

He hurriedly said, "Sect Master, I'm now the sect master of the Devileye Sect."

Blood Rakshasha frowned as he muttered, "Devileye Sect..."

One-eye indifferently said, "That was something I started. This person is still useful for me. My name is One-eye. Are you the so-called Blood Rakshasha? What a piece of trash."

With a cold tone, he said, "If you guys were willing to help, we would have been able to kill one or two Mountainseas earlier and capture Su Yu directly. That would put an end to all these troubles. Latest content publıshed on novel✦fire.net

"Why do we still need to waste our time working with the single character faction? What a joke. You wish to profit yet you don't want to work for it. If the single character faction is actually working with the Xia Family, your so-called blackmail material on them would be rendered completely useless. What a joke. The Blood Fire Sect is indeed filled with fools."

"You—"

Chapter 576: Traces of Mountainseas (3)

One-eye ignored Blood Rakshasha and spoke to the other two Mountainseas, "Which sect are you from? If you're from the Blood Fire Sect as well, I won't be wasting more time with you. If not, we can still talk about cooperation. Blood Rakshasha is useless. Do you think you can get the ruin relying on his plan?"

The two exchanged gazes. One of them smiled and introduced himself, "I'm Yun Fei from the Celestial Dragon Sect." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel(ꜰ)ire.net

"I'm Hong Chen from the Devil Scorpion Sect."

Blood Rakshasha felt extremely helpless to see that happen. Nothing would change even if he refused to come. Bloodmoon and One-eye had been too high-profile, attracting the attention of his two allies. If he had refused to come, they would simply come without him.

Five Mountainseas had been gathered together.

Bloodmoon went straight to the point, "The mountain giant in their group is already seriously injured. Even if there are only five of us, we are definitely stronger than the six of them. Blood Rakshasha is a seventh-stage Mountainsea so we can even launch a frontal attack. They still have a bunch of students dragging them down. I suggest that we launch a frontal attack and capture Su Yu directly."

He added, "If we drag this out, none of us will survive the moment the Xia Family arrives. I don't intend to keep waiting like the other fools. What are you waiting for? Death?"

The other two Mountainseas nodded in agreement. Things would only get more dangerous if they waited longer. As cultists, they were better off launching an attack and ending things promptly.

This whole journey of Su Yu was causing more and more ruckus. Fortunately, not much time had passed. If they waited until the Xia Family was here, they would turn into prey instead.

Bloodmoon said, "Blood Rakshasha, you have the highest cultivation among us. Thus, I was willing to listen to you before this. But if we keep waiting around, none of us will survive. We need to make a move immediately. Either that or we give up. You're relying on the single character faction, but what if they're plotting against you as well? How are we supposed to work with them when they don't even have a representative here?"

Bloodmoon coldly said, "If they want to work with us, they have to meet with us. That way, we can compare our strength with theirs. If they turn out to be too strong, we need to start being wary of being backstabbed by them. Don't even dream of leading the operation with only your words, Blood Rakshasha."

"That's right. Blood Rakshasha, where is their representative? I fail to see any sincerity in their part."

The other two Mountainseas started questioning the plan as well. Seeing that, both Bloodmoon and One-eye exchanged a hidden smile. Only when all their enemies were gathered together would they be able to exterminate all those people in one fell swoop.

Since they had decided to infiltrate the opposing camp, it would be a waste to not get a leadership position while they were at it. It was unfortunate that they weren't stronger than Blood Rakshasha. Otherwise, they could have directly snatched the leadership position.

In truth, Blood Rakshasha himself had also been worrying about the single character faction. Thus, he nodded and said, "I can talk to them. You're right. We need to be careful of betrayal."

He then took out a voice transmission talisman. After a short while, he said, "Let's wait. The contact person is checking with his superiors."

At the same time.

After taking a look at her voice transmission talisman, Yu Hong frowned and said, "They are demanding that we meet up with them or they will cancel the cooperation."

Old Zheng frowned and said, "Is this proper? Elder Yu, this is already very risky for us. If we do meet up with them, we won't be able to escape death in the event of exposure."

This was very improper. If they worked separately, he could always claim that he was taking a stroll if he was caught. But if he actually grouped up with the cult, things would be very troublesome if he was caught.

After thinking for a bit, Yu Hong said, "It's fine. If we are exposed, we will silence all witnesses, including the cultists. It's not like there's no precedence of human experts going undercover in the cult.

"We even have many spies who are actually sect masters of the various sects. As long as we don't infringe on the benefits of the Xia Family, we will be fine. After killing Su Yu, we won't need the cult anymore."

Old Zheng was still worried. After a short while, he said, "In that case, we should erase all of them toward the end." "We need to eliminate all of them or they will have a very strong blackmail material to use against us."

"I agree."

Yu Hong agreed. That wouldn't be an issue. They had plenty of Mountainseas on their side. After the deed was done, they could join hands with the cloud tigers and easily wipe out all the cultists.

After all, the cultists were unaware of the fact that the cloud tiger elder and a few others were also on the single character faction's side.

Half an hour later.

Both Yu Hong and Old Zheng arrived before One-eye and company. However, the air in front of their faces was distorted, making it hard to see their true appearances.

When One-eye saw them, he snorted, and asked, "Are there only the two of you?"

"Is that not enough?"

Yu Hong spoke with a cold tone as her aura erupted, revealing her cultivation at the seventh-stage Mountainsea Realm. At the same time, Old Zheng released his aura as well, exposing his sixth-stage Mountainsea Realm cultivation.

"Tsk, tsk. Looks like both of you are quite strong."

Bloodmoon sneered and said, "Even so, if there are only the two of you, it's not enough. Including the two of you, we have seven Mountainseas against their six. But Great Xia might have a Mountainsea hidden somewhere nearby, making it seven against seven. That is not enough. If we proceed in this manner, a battle to the death between us and them will break out the moment we reach the ruin. In that case, we might as well attack now and capture Su Yu. It is safer to interrogate him for the ruin right now with our numbers."

Yu Hong coldly said, "One of us is not here yet. That person will be here soon. They don't have any late-stage Mountainseas while both Blood Rakshasha and I are late-stage Mountainseas. What's so dangerous about this? The two of you should stop creating trouble for us!"

Yu Hong was quite furious as well. Bloodmoon and One-eye had been creating trouble repeatedly. If this continued, would Su Yu still dare to continue toward the ruin? Things were not too bad yet with only two enemy Mountainseas. But if more Mountainseas showed up, Su Yu would definitely give up.

This was also why they had decided to reveal themselves to these cultists. They needed to keep Bloodmoon and One-eye in check.

Bloodmoon sneered and said, "Sure. We won't do anything rash. But you better not create trouble when we find the ruin. Also, when the time comes to make a move, we won't dare to truly cooperate with you unless you kill a Mountainsea before us. I believe someone from the Xia Family is here. I only have a simple request. We will deal with the others, but the two of you need to kill the person from the Xia Family."

The other cultists said nothing, but they agreed. They wanted the single character faction to kill someone from the Xia Family. How would they dare to trust the single character faction otherwise?

Yu Hong's face turned frosty. But after a while, she spat, "Fine."

"Then I guess we have a deal!" Bloodmoon smiled and said, "In that case, I naturally won't have any issue cooperating with you. You can even lead this operation if you want. Single character faction...hehehe. I'll be relying on your care from now on. After all, we're now on the same side."

Both Yu Hong and Old Zheng said nothing.

One-eye smiled and said, "The others can still act as they see fit, but all Mountainseas will stop for now. We don't want to scare our prey off, right? Let those fools continue harassing them. We can't allow them to be scared off by the perceived peace as well, right? I guess this is a good opportunity for us to remove some of the rogue cultists from Great Xia."

Nobody objected. They didn't care about the weaklings.

***

At this time, Su Yu's group was less than an hour away from Tianshui.

The frequency of attacks on them had reduced significantly.

Both Bloodmoon and One-eye had also stopped appearing.

Su Yu didn't know much, but he was aware that Bloodmoon had met two Mountainseas from the single character faction. One of them was at the seventh stage while the other was at the sixth stage.

He could guess who the seventh-stage Mountainsea was. As for the sixth-stage Mountainsea, that was probably the visitor from Great Shang. How brazen. The single character faction was truly brazen. They actually dared to meet up with the cultists.

All of them should be here already, right?

The other Mountainsea Yu Hong mentioned was probably Elder Li. All three elders had been gathered. As for the cultists, excluding Bloodmoon and One-eye, there were three Mountainseas on their side.

They had six Mountainseas in total. Including the cloud tiger, barbaric bull, and fox, they would receive the help of three additional Mountainseas. That put the number of known enemy Mountainseas at nine.

Su Yu licked his lips. He had to increase the pace in case these people started getting suspicious. There were actually nine of them. What a crazy number. Yu Hong and company had a truly high opinion of him if they were mustering so much force just to deal with him.

"This is enough. Getting nine Mountainseas killed will be enough to spread my name everywhere."

Of course, he also needed to ensure his own survival if he wanted to enjoy the fame.

"Pick up the pace." Su Yu hollered at the group, "Let's move faster. We don't want to drag this out."

With his order, the suanni increased his speed. Behind him, the mountaindrill bull and the others also increased their speed.

Facing the sun in the sky, Su Yu said, "We will take a detour around Tianshui and head straight to Nanyuan."

Nobody said anything. They all followed him in silence. The frequency of attacks on them continued to reduce.

Seated atop the mountaindrill bull, Xia Qing looked at Ji Xiaomeng and Li Minyu with an odd expression. Why were these two still here when it was clear that things were going to get dangerous?

Just what were they planning?

Chapter 577: Arrival at the Starfall Mountain (1)

Beneath the scorching sun, a group of people were traveling rapidly. The group had stopped encountering attacks after arriving near Tianshui. Just as Su Yu was about to take a detour around Tianshui, a group of soldiers appeared ahead of him.

Zhou Hao and the others were instantly on high alert, worried that these soldiers were cultists in disguise. However, Su Yu saw a familiar face among the soldiers.

Li Yunfeng. That was one of the people in charge of escorting Su Yu and the other students to the capital back then. He was a seventh-stage Skysoar, the deputy commander of Tianshui's city guards.

At the same time, Li Yunfeng saw Su Yu as well. Even from far away, Li Yunfeng could sense how strong Su Yu was. He was greatly shocked. And Su Yu's mount was incredibly impressive as well. The mere aura leaking out of that mount was enough to cause Li Yunfeng's cloudrush horse to tremble in fear.

That was a suanni, a top 100 race. Furthermore, that was a peak Skysoar suanni.

Li Yunfeng still remembered Su Yu. A few months ago, he had escorted Su Yu and the other students to the capital alongside Zhao Li. Back then, Su Yu was not the main character of the convoy. Instead, it was Hu Zongji. That was also the person Li Yunfeng was in charge of protecting. After all, that was a genius from Tianshui.

Back then, Su Yu was merely an unremarkable genius from Nanyuan. How long had it been? It had only been a few months, but everything seemed to have changed. As the group approached, Li Yunfeng looked at Su Yu, who was clad in a snow-white outfit. Seated atop the suanni mount, he emitted a baleful and murderous aura.

"Su Yu?"

"Commander Li!" Su Yu cupped his hands in greeting and smiled, "Are you here to deal with the beast disturbance?"

"Yes."

Li Yunfeng nodded. As he scanned the group of students, he was greatly shocked. These must be the geniuses from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. There were also some weird-looking students among them. Were these the myriad race students?

"Su Yu, where are you going?"

"I'm going back to Nanyuan." Su Yu explained with a smile, "Nanyuan is also suffering from a beast disturbance. They asked for help so I accepted the mission."

"Do you need any help from us?"

Su Yu cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the offer, but there is no need to trouble you, Commander Li. By the way, we killed some beasts on our way here. Only the corpses of the Skysoar beasts have been collected. There are still plenty of Great Strength and Infinite Strength corpses everywhere. If you don't mind the trouble, you can get your people to collect those corpses. Use the money to get some drinks. Consider that my treat."

Looking at the soldiers behind Li Yunfeng, Su Yu smiled and said, "My father is a soldier as well. Thus, I can't help but think of my father when I see you. It would be a waste to leave those corpses to rot. However, we can't carry that many corpses with us."

Li Yunfeng was too shocked to say anything. Even Skysoar beasts had been killed?

At this time, he recalled the rumors he had heard and asked, "Su Yu...have you entered the Skysoar Realm?"

"Nope."

That was even more shocking to hear. It would be understandable if someone with Su Yu's strength was already a Skysoar. It was even more terrifying to hear that someone below that realm had killed a large number of Skysoars.

"In that case...I'll have to thank you."

Li Yunfeng did not reject the offer. He said, "Do you need to take a rest inside Tianshui?"

"No. I can't wait to return home." Su Yu smiled and said, "Commander Li, I'll be taking my leave."

"Farewell!"

Li Yunfeng cupped his hands as he saw Su Yu off. After the group left, he sighed in admiration. Was this the same child he had escorted to the capital a few months ago? Standing before the child, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed of himself. As a seventh-stage Skysoar, he could be considered a genius in Tianshui. But he was nothing before Su Yu.

With complicated emotions, he traveled forward with his subordinates. Before long, they arrived at a fresh battleground. The place reeked of blood and over a hundred beast corpses were strewn all over the place.

The soldiers behind him exclaimed in admiration as they saw that. As experienced soldiers, they were able to see that most of these beasts had been killed by a single individual. And most of them had been killed with a single slash.

All the corpses were still in pristine condition. Looking at the positions of the corpses, they judged that these beasts had been killed instantly.

One of the soldiers asked, "Commander, is this the work of that student?"

"Yeah." Li Yunfeng nodded and sighed before saying, "Remember this name. Su Yu of Nanyuan. He is a top genius of Great Xia. The Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art that the military is preparing to disseminate was created by this same genius."

Only then did the other soldiers realize who Su Yu was. That was a super genius. A true super genius.

"Great Xia is lucky to have him."

One of the soldiers laughed and said, "Such a genius has actually emerged in Great Xia. What a pity that we're too old. If I'm 20 years younger, I can definitely reach a much higher level with the Soul Devouring Art and the Acupoint Fusion Art. By the way, he mentioned his father. Don't tell me that he's the son of Nanyuan's Su Long?"

One of them knew Su Long.

Li Yunfeng nodded, "Yes. It's the same Su Long from the Devil Subduing Army. Old Chen, both of you served in the Devil Subduing Army at the same time, right?"

The 100-man commander in the group smiled and said, "I guess you can say so, but I'm from the batch before him. Su Long...what an incredible individual. He has actually produced a genius son like this. He will probably go crazy with joy if he learns of this."

He laughed and said, "Su Long is too lucky. He's not very impressive himself, but his old brothers from the army have all done well for themselves. Even his son is doing so well. I retired from the army five years after Su Long. By the time I left, a few of his brothers were already 1000-man commanders. It has been over ten years since then. I reckon some of them are already 10000-man commanders now."

In the Devil Subduing Army, the 1000-man commanders were generally Skysoars while the 10000-man commanders were Cloudbreach cultivators.

When Li Yunfeng heard that, he exclaimed in admiration, "Su Long's old group is indeed incredible. With Su Yu's strength and talent, he can probably become a general shortly after joining the army in the future."

"Great Xia is truly blessed to have someone like him."

These veteran soldiers couldn't help but feel happy for Great Xia. Internally, the soldiers of the Devil Subduing Army would compete against each other intensely. But outside the army, they were all family.

Thus, these people felt proud to see the son of their old comrade-in-arms doing well. In fact, this alone was enough for them to gain some bragging rights when encountering those from the other armies in the future.

Even if those people didn't know the name Su Yu, it didn't matter. They would definitely know the Soul Devouring Art and Acupoint Fusion Art they were practicing. And they only needed to know that Su Yu was the creator. Su Yu, the son of a Devil Subduing Army soldier.

The more they thought about it, the more excited they became. This was something worth feeling proud about.

Looking at his subordinates who were happy collecting the corpses, Li Yunfeng said, "Yes, he is a genius, but his life is hard as well. He joined the multiple character faction at the capital. Us warriors don't know too much about this, but those with some cultural researcher friends will definitely know about this..."

One of them just happened to be such a person. He asked, "Commander, he's part of the multiple character faction? I wasn't aware of that. In that case, his life is definitely hard. I heard that the multiple character faction has already been deregistered in some places. But Su Yu should be fine right? He's such a genius."

"I think so. A genius like him who has created so many useful cultivation methods should be treated well. How will they trouble him?"

"..."

The soldiers did not seem too worried about Su Yu. As far as they were concerned, someone with Su Yu's talent would be treated well by Great Xia.

"The next time I see the other soldiers, I'll be telling them that the cultivation methods they practice came from our Devil Subduing Army."

"Old Chen, you retired long ago. You're not part of the Devil Subduing Army anymore."

"Yeah. You're not even a city guard of Nanyuan. You can't even lay any claim on Su Yu."

"..."

The soldiers started joking around. They all seemed to be in a good mood. Not only had they met someone like Su Yu, but they had also obtained so many beast corpses. Even if the students had claimed the credit for these kills, these corpses were still valuable.

And from what they could see, it was likely that those students hadn't even bothered with claiming these kills. Generally, one would be rewarded for killing beasts. To claim the kill, one would need to submit parts of the killed beasts as proof. That was to prevent fraudulent claims.

After gathering all the corpses in the area, they continued moving ahead. Sure enough, they found even more corpses. And it seemed like there were even more to be found further away. They could see that some other people were already gathering those corpses. Unhappy, they hurriedly rushed over to negotiate for these corpses.

After all, these corpses were Su Yu's gift to them! These random people had not been permitted to gather these corpses! In this manner, news of Su Yu's return and the numerous beasts he had slain started spreading in the surrounding cities.

All the retired Devil Subduing Army soldiers started bragging that Su Yu was someone from the Devil Subduing Army. That was the creator of the Soul Devouring Art and the Acupoint Fusion Art! That was someone from the Devil Subduing Army!

***

In only half a day, Su Yu's name spread all over the 28 cities of Great Xia. Meanwhile, Su Yu was getting nearer and nearer to Nanyuan. At this stretch of the journey, even the cultists had stopped attacking him.

At this point, the fools were already dead while the smarter ones had decided to withdraw after seeing so many of their own dead.

***

Nanyuan City. On the city wall.

Mayor Wu Wenhai, Old Principal Wang, Commander Zhang Yun, Head Zeng Hua of the Windcatcher Department, and Squad Leader Xia Bing of the Martial Dragon Guards were all waiting there.

Staring into the distance, Wu Wenhai said, "Old Xia, who would have guessed? It has only been a few months. Li Yunfeng of Tianshui called me earlier and thanked me for Su Yu's gift. I still remember how arrogant he was during my previous visit to Tianshui."

He had complicated emotions. He knew who Li Yunfeng was. That was a genius from Tianshui's Li Family, a Skysoar who was in his early thirties. And he also occupied an important position at a city like Tianshui which was much larger than Nanyuan.

Even the mayor of Nanyuan like him was inferior to someone like Li Yunfeng. But now, Li Yunfeng had taken the initiative to call him and build a friendly relationship with him. Xia Bing's emotions were complicated as well. He knew that Su Yu was a genius, but he had not expected Su Yu to be such a massive genius. It had been less than half a year since Su Yu departed, but he was now returning a hero.

Meanwhile, the old principal smiled smugly and said, "Isn't my Nanyuan Secondary School impressive?"

"How is this related to you?" Wu Wenhai teased, "Old Wang, that's not even your student. He's Old Liu's student."

"There's no difference. Would Su Yu deny that he graduated from Nanyuan Secondary School?" Latest content publıshed on novel✶fire.net

The old principal laughed and said, "Amazing. Even back then, I already knew that this kid would grow up fine. And I was right! Look at how famous he is right now!"

But his expression soon turned solemn as he said, "But he's too high-profile. This kid should learn to keep a low profile. Nanyuan is a small city. We're not like Beifeng where their geniuses can expect the backing of their Mountainsea mayor. Is Su Yu supposed to rely on you, Old Wu?"

Chapter 578: Arrival at the Starfall Mountain (2)

Wu Wenhai said nothing. He felt somewhat dispirited. Those words were too mean. And he had nothing to say.

There was no denying that Nanyuan was weak. They could hardly find a Skysoar in the city. They might be one of the 28 cities of Great Xia, but they were only as big as a single district of a large city.

Suddenly, dust rose in the distance. A streak of golden light appeared. That was the suanni, moving ahead while emitting a powerful aura.

Standing atop the city wall, Wu Wenhai exclaimed, "Is that the suanni Li Yunfeng mentioned? A high-stage Skysoar of a top 100 race..."

"Even his mount is stronger than you. Sigh."

The old principal was as mean as ever. Wu Wenhai was speechless. He was already feeling pretty dispirited. Why was the old principal so mean? Nevertheless, he was still overwhelmed by the shock he was feeling. Su Yu was truly impressive. In less than half a year, Su Yu had returned mounted on a suanni.

Suddenly, a city guard exclaimed, "There are a lot of beasts!"

Yes. There were a lot of beasts. Or to be precise, there were a lot of beast corpses. Su Yu's group had encountered a group of rampaging beasts near the city. After dealing with these beasts, they decided to drag the corpses over since they were already near Nanyuan.

All the corpses were strung together. The suanni and mountaindrill bull were in charge of dragging these corpses. That was why they were producing clouds of dust as they moved.

There was no need to worry about damaging the corpses while dragging them on the ground as these were all powerful beasts. As they had just been killed, their corpses wouldn't be damaged so easily.

They had finally reached Nanyuan. Looking at the dilapidated city walls ahead of him, Su Yu could see how small Nanyuan was compared to cities like Tianshui and the capital. He wouldn't feel this way in the past, but when he looked at those city walls yet again, he was able to see just how shabby these walls were.

Nevertheless, he still loved Nanyuan more. After all, this was his true home. This was where he had lived eighteen years in joy. This was where he met his friends and teachers. When they were near the city, Su Yu leaped off the suanni and landed on the wall. There, he greeted loudly, "Su Yu greets the mayor and the principal! I have returned!"

When Su Yu's gaze landed on the old principal, he couldn't help but feel a sense of intimacy. And when his gaze landed on Xia Bing, he became absent-minded for a short moment. He even saw Chen Hao's father, Chen Qinghe, there. Like the others, Chen Qinghe was also looking at him with a joyful smile.

"Everything is fine as long as you're safely back..."

The old principal stepped forth and patted Su Yu's shoulder with a complicated expression. But he soon gave Su Yu a kick before grinning, "Why are you being rude? Are you not going to invite your friends in? Show them the hospitality of Nanyuan!"

Su Yu smiled. For some reason, the old principal looked even older than before. But fortunately, the principal still looked healthy. He couldn't help but recall how this principal would always bicker with his Teacher Liu. This principal was frequently made the scapegoat for the things his Teacher Liu did. There was a period of time when the principal nearly yanked his chin clean of his beard due to stress.

What a pity that Teacher Liu was no longer here. Instead, Teacher Liu was now staying at the incomparably dangerous Allheaven Battlefield. After a short exchange of pleasantries, the city gate swung open. The city guards sallied forth to welcome Su Yu's friends into the city.

From atop the city wall, Su Yu hollered at them, "Take a rest. The mission isn't urgent. I won't be staying with you. I'll be taking a trip back home."

The others nodded and followed the guards to their accommodations. At this point, the sky was starting to turn dark. After traveling through the night, Su Yu was feeling slightly tired. But he was still able to walk and talk with the others just fine.

After a while, he noticed that the old principal was hesitating to say something. Thus, he said, "Senior Great Mountain, has everyone left?"

Great Mountain did not reveal himself, but he replied through voice transmission, "Yes. But I think there are some existing Mountainseas hidden in Nanyuan. I can sense them, but I don't know their exact positions."

Su Yu wasn't surprised. Those were probably the people from Xia Family that were here to look for the ruin.

In fact, there might even be a Sunmoon around. But that wasn't a bad thing. With these people here, he would be able to take a good rest. Yu Hong and the others wouldn't dare to do anything in Nanyuan.

Su Yu felt like laughing as he wondered if those people would dare to attack the city if he claimed that the ruin was inside the city. The source of thɪs content is NoveI-Fire.ɴet

The principal did not appear surprised to see that Su Yu was being protected by a hidden expert. In fact, he was relieved to see that. With a soft voice, he said, "Since you're back, take a few days off and rest. After New Year's, return to the capital and focus on your studies. Don't get into any trouble. Do you understand me?"

That was all the principal could say. Su Yu seemed to have changed into a completely different person after a few months away from Nanyuan. He had changed way too much. Instead of his appearance or his strength, his demeanor had changed the most.

Before Su Yu left Nanyuan, he was a bookworm and a refined gentleman. He might be impatient at times, but he would always give off the impression of a refined gentleman. But all of that had changed.

In fact, when the principal saw Su Yu, he was reminded of his first meeting with Liu Wenyan over forty years ago. Liu Wenyan had eventually transformed into the shameless old man that he was after spending forty years in Nanyuan.

Su Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Principal. I'm not the type of person to create trouble needlessly."

He changed the topic and asked, "Did my father send me any letters? I didn't receive anything at the capital."

"There are no letters, but he did tell someone to bring a verbal message back."

Xia Bing was the one to answer. He said, "He asked if you're now dating someone. If you're not seeing anyone, he'll introduce someone to you. There is a pretty girl who is the daughter of a 100-man commander that he wishes to introduce to you..."

"..."

The old principal roared with laughter. Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Is that all?"

"Yeah." Xia Bing found it funny as well. He said, "You don't need to worry about him. The Devil Subduing Army has not been involved in many battles as of late. The soldiers on the frontlines will also be rotated back to the headquarters soon. Your father might be one of the soldiers being rotated back so things will be even safer there."

"With your current strength, you can easily join the Devil Subduing Army or even the Martial Dragon Guards. In fact, the Martial Dragon Guards would be glad to have you. Your father's biggest dream has always been to join the Martial Dragon Guards."

Su Yu smiled and said, "Forget it. I'm still a student."

"You—" Xia Bing could say nothing to that. He helplessly asked, "You have killed a lot of Skysoars already, right?"

"Well, I did kill a few of them." Su Yu smiled and asked, "Uncle Xia, have some experts arrived at Nanyuan?"

Xia Bing remained silent.

Su Yu said, "The others might not be aware of this, but both you and the mayor are definitely aware of this. The Martial Dragon Guards is the private army of the Xia Family. They won't hide this from you."

Xia Bing and the mayor were definitely the ones in charge of providing accommodations to the visitors. Thus, it was not possible that those people would come without informing them. Xia Bing wanted to say something, but he hesitated.

Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I talked about this with Marquis Xia before. They are here because of me, right? They're looking for the ruin."

With the mention of Marquis Xia, Xia Bing stopped struggling and nodded, "Yes. They are from the Secret Regiment. There are two main regiments in the Martial Dragon Guards. people like us belong to the Public Regiment while those people belong to the Secret Regiment. The Secret Regiment is also the core of the Martial Dragon Guards. A commander from the Secret Regiment has arrived."

"What's the strength of this commander?"

"Sunmoon Realm, I guess." Xia Bing shook his head and said, "I honestly don't know. The Secret Regiment is small, but all of them are experts. That lord arrived with several subordinates. All his subordinates are Mountainsea experts so I assume that he's a Sunmoon. I know nothing else. But your guess is probably correct."

"Uncle Xia, why did you tell me all that? Are you not afraid that this will get you in trouble?"

Xia Bing smiled and said, "It's fine. You know this very well. Since they're here to look for something that belongs to you, they need to notify you as well. Thus, this isn't really something that should be kept from you. The prefect once said that any individual's fortuitous encounter belongs to that individual alone. Trying to snatch something like that away is the same as thievery. And that is not something Great Xia can tolerate. Thus, even if they do manage to find something, they will need to talk to you about it."

Su Yu smiled, "Is that so? But why didn't they ask for my permission before starting the search?"

Xia Bing didn't know what to say.

Su Yu smiled, "It's fine. Let them do as they wish. I don't care."

Why would he care? He didn't even know if there was really a ruin in Nanyuan. According to the established rules, they would need to share thirty percent of what they found with him. Thus, he was more than happy to have them search for the so-called ruin.

"How many Mountainseas are there?"

"I saw three of them."

Su Yu nodded. So there were one Sunmoon and three Mountainseas in the city. It was clear they attached great importance to this so-called ruin. This city was roughly three hundred kilometers away from Starfall Mountain. That wasn't a long distance. Sunmoons and Mountainseas wouldn't need much time to cover such a distance.

These people might need to head over to the Starfall Mountain to collect the corpses there by the time he was done.

Su Yu took out a merit card and handed it to the old principal. With a smile, he said, "Principal, when Teacher Liu wrote the Lightning Source Blade's willpower text for me back then, you said that I need to repay the school a hundredfold. I can do that now. Please make good use of the money in this card."

The old principal frowned and said, "That was a joke from me and Old Liu. Why are you taking it seriously?"

"I am taking it seriously." Su Yu smiled and said, "It is only natural that I repay the school now that I have the ability to do so. You only need to focus on nurturing more talented juniors. This is nothing for me."

"You are getting more and more confident nowadays, kid." The principal laughed and said, "Speaking of, I need to tell you something. That Old Liu is a total bastard. He only wrote four moves in the willpower text. The remaining five moves are all fake."

"..."

Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "No wonder something felt off. I thought I did a bad job at taking care of the willpower text, but the remaining moves have been fake all along?"

The old principal laughed happily. He had been waiting to say this for a very long time. What a pity that Old Liu was no longer here. He really wanted to see the embarrassed look on that old bastard's face.

Su Yu laughed as well. After a while, he looked at Xia Bing and said, "Uncle Xia, can I trouble you to send my father a letter? Tell him to ignore all the rumors. Just live his life. His son has grown up. Regardless of what I do, I won't regret the choice I make myself."

Xia Bing did not ask any questions. He merely nodded. The old principal also watched on without asking anything.

When they reached Su Yu's old neighborhood, he smiled and said, "Alright then. I'll be heading back home to take a look. I'll be leaving for the mission tonight. Those beasts aren't really that big of a deal. Those Mountainseas can easily deal with the beasts anytime they want."

The principal stayed silent. If the kid was already aware of that, why had the kid returned? This kid was clearly plotting something.