Tribulation of Myriad Races

The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was still able to find Su Yu.

But it took them much longer than before to find him. He was unsure if that was merely an act. In any case, it had taken them about an hour to locate him.

The door swung open.

The same dark figure was standing outside. Su Yu didn’t even know if this was the same person, but the cultivation level of this person was certainly similar to the previous individual. It was quite hard for him to accurately pinpoint the aura of this person. But the dark figure actually looked quite good. Or to be precise, the dark figure was actually quite stylish since there was no way for Su Yu to see the real appearance of the dark figure.

Su Yu couldn’t be bothered to say more. He tossed the talisman containing Shan Xiong’s information over.

After taking a look at the talisman, the dark figure said, “Mr. Su, your information seems to be outdated. Also, are you sure you’re providing accurate information regarding his character?”

“What?” Su Yu asked curiously, “How is it inaccurate?”

“You’re saying that his character might not be a character. Rather, it might be a unique weapon. This is quite hard to believe…”

“Feel free to believe what you want.” Su Yu said, “This is my speculation. It doesn’t matter if you can’t believe it. I also suspect that Shan Xiong is a modified human. He is actually from the transformation faction.”

“…”

The dark figure had a strong feeling that Su Yu was blabbering nonsense, but they couldn’t do anything about it but leave silently. Right after the dark figure left, Su Yu hurriedly switched his location yet again.

Run!

Sure enough, the index copy could be used as a location tracker. The tracker might not be too accurate. There were two possibilities here. They could be putting up an act or the tracker might only be able to determine his general location, not the exact location.

“I can do more tests. Perhaps I can hide the index copy somewhere else.”

Or he could simply place it inside his sea of willpower. Or he could cover it with his character. In any case, there were plenty of tests to be done. After entering a different building, Su Yu checked the information he received.

His questions had been more or less answered. One could kill in ancient cities. But the act of killing or even spilling blood might cause the appearance of death spirits. Thus, it was up to one’s judgment whether killing inside an ancient city was wise.

The permanent residents and guards could be killed as well. The same risk applied. Furthermore, since these people were considered locals, killing them might also cause the appearance of stronger death spirits.

Once one became a permanent resident of an ancient city, one would be bound to the city. The advantage of that was the ability to live in the city long term. Furthermore, the death spirits would ignore these residents as long as the residents did not provoke them. Additionally, with a high enough level of ancient city medallion, one could even order the weaker death spirits around.

When the night patrol threatened to open his door and punish him previously, the night patrol was basically talking about the ancient city medallion. If one’s medalion was high enough in level, one could forcefully open the doors of occupied buildings in the city.

According to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, there were perhaps thirty-six levels of rank for these ancient city medallions, corresponding to the thirty-six rings in each city. The lowest level medallion could be used to open the doors of the buildings in the outermost ring.

If one was wary of being attacked inside one’s residence, one should stay deeper inside the city instead. If one stayed deep enough, nobody would be able to force their way into the building.

As for property damage, the answer was similar. The properties inside the city would recover automatically after some time. Due to this, one would assume that it was safe to damage the properties in the city. But doing so would also cause the appearance of death spirits. Thus, this became a taboo as well.

To sum it up, the living was not the scariest entity in these ancient cities. Rather, it was the dead. These death spirits might actually be the dead residents of these cities. After their deaths, the cities had somehow preserved their existences in the form of death spirits. The description of the Heavendoom mayor was very sparse.

“There is no need to provoke him, but there is no need to fear him either. Humans, divines, devils, immortals…the mayor tends to avoid provoking any race with more than five Invincibles. As long as you do nothing to provoke the mayor, the mayor will also leave you alone.”

It was yet another simple reply. It was apparent that to rise into the position of a tyrant in an ancient city, the ability to judge the hour and size up the situation was very important as well.

Why did the mayor avoid provoking those with more than five Invincibles? Because an ancient city was attacked by three Invincibles in the past. The Invincibles didn’t gain anything. Instead, one of them perished. That was an event that had happened hundreds of years ago.

Thus, the mayor was not fearful of races with only a small handful of Invincibles. The ancient city itself came with its own defensive system. As the puppet mayor…

Yes. Puppet mayor. Those were not Su Yu’s words. Rather, that was what the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had written. Puppet mayor. As a puppet mayor, one could utilize a part of the ancient city’s strength.

To conclude it all, as long as Su Yu did not bother the mayor, the mayor wouldn’t bother him either. If he didn’t want trouble, he simply had to avoid looking for trouble. The human race was no pushover. Even though things had been quite challenging for them in recent years, their strength was there. Back then, Xia Longwu had killed his way to Heavendoom City. And he had survived that just fine.

For the sake of his own well-being, the mayor wouldn’t provoke the young geniuses of the major race for no reason.

“I see.”

After reading all that, Su Yu’s understanding of ancient cities had increased significantly. One ought to admit that the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion was still pretty good in terms of information gathering. Regardless of the topic, they would know something about it.

Of course, that was not all there was to know about ancient cities. For example, how exactly did those death spirits come into existence? Also, how did ancient cities relate to the Luminous Domain Mansion? No explanation had been given on these topics.

“Mayor’s residence…forget it. There’s a ninth-stage Sunmoon there. I’m not in a hurry to throw my life away. Killing death spirits…forget it as well. What if I’m unlucky enough to pick a Sunmoon death spirit as my target? The one I met previously was probably a Cloudbreach or a Mountainsea, but even that fellow was already so hard to deal with.

“That left me with only the inner rings. I need to try my luck on the unoccupied buildings there. The longer I stay, the more likely it is for me to encounter some opportunities. I suppose that will work as long as I don’t get myself killed by the death qi.”

At this point, Su Yu had basically figured out what he needed to do to find the opportunities available in the city. Sunmoon profound yellow pond! Even something so amazing could be found in the city. That was something that was useful for even Sunmoons.

Su Yu heard that sunmoon profound yellow liquid was a commodity one couldn’t even buy if one had the money for it. That was understandable. As a Sunmoon, one would not let go of something that could increase the strength of a Sunmoon unless one was already a peak Sunmoon.

There was also the heavenly source fruit tree. Su Yu wouldn’t mind getting one for himself as well. Even a heaven weapon would be acceptable. If he couldn’t get all that, he could even settle with getting some Sunmoon characters. Even if he couldn’t use them, he could totally crush them for his own cultivation. The more he thought, the more tempted he became.

Mo Duona had reached the eighteenth ring of the previous ancient city he visited. This time, he might have gone even deeper. Su Yu wondered if it would be fine for him to enter the twentieth ring with his current strength. It was likely that Mo Duona had entered the fifteenth ring this time.

“I can always try one ring at a time. But the death qi is troublesome. There might also be other dangers in the city. I’ll know after checking the buildings of every ring. I’ll slowly go deeper before deciding on a suitable building to hole up in.”

“Death spirits…”

Su Yu’s thoughts returned to the death spirits. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had given him a short explanation regarding the death spirits. They were rarely seen during the day. More of them would appear during the night. They might be rare during the day, but they would still appear in some unique circumstances, such as the destruction of property or the spilling of blood.

It was far more likely for one to encounter a death spirit when traveling at night. After all, night was the time when these death spirits would come out and collect the bloodstained talismans of the people who were trying to become permanent residents.

***

While Su Yu was making his plans.

Mayor’s residence.

The inner hall was the exclusive room of the stone statue. Even the mayor was only staying in the outer hall.

The inner hall felt too creepy, so not even the mayor enjoyed going back there. That was a place where Sunmoons had died before. At night, powerful death spirits would occasionally appear there as well. Not even the mayor wanted to have anything to do with the death spirits.

At the moment, the outer hall was brightly lit. This was the only place in the massive city that was so blatantly bright at night. Everywhere else in the city, darkness reigned during the night. Even the light inside the occupied buildings would rarely be visible outside the buildings.

There was a small crowd in the outer hall. The mayor was seated atop the main seat. He was leisurely sipping on wine while looking at the dancing beauties of multiple races in front of him. Nevertheless, he maintained a clear look in his eyes as he sat in silence.

Two ethereal individuals were seated to the two sides of him. Both of them were youngsters. One was a man and the other was a woman. Additionally, several armored experts were also present. If Su Yu was there, he would be able to recognize these people as those from the mystic armor race.

The handsome youth to the left of the mayor lifted his wine glass and smiled, “A toast to our lord mayor, the overlord of west Plain of Desires, one who will exist in eternity alongside the eternal ancient city…”

The mayor looked at the youth with his dark and deep eyes. He said, “You are a descendant of an immortal king. You are being too polite toward me. I’m nothing but a homeless vagrant. If my homeworld is still around, I wouldn’t have stayed here as this puppet mayor who is neither alive or dead.”

“You must be jesting, Lord.” Dao Cheng laughed and said, “Within this city itself, you can face even an immortal king in battle. You are as good as an Eternal in here.”

“Heh.”

It was unknown if the mayor was mocking himself or those words with that sneer. He was very young, or at least he looked very young. His eyes, in particular, were the most eye-catching aspect of him as his eyeballs were completely black. He indifferently said, “That’s only applicable within this tiny city. Out of the city, even a ninth-stage Sunmoon can kill me. Back then, Xia Longwu was able to seriously injure me with one slash. I have nothing to be proud about.”

Dao Cheng sank into a momentary silence before smiling, “Persisting in evil ways will only bring about self-destruction. Xia Longwu has too much blood in his eyes. In my opinion, he won’t be able to complete his coming dao affirmation.”

The mayor took another sip of wine and said, “Both the immortals and mystic armors are visiting together. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Seeing that the mayor was ignoring the previous topic, Dao Cheng did not insist. He said, “Lord, we wish to arrest one person in your city.”

“Su Yu?”

“Yes.”

The mayor gave an indifferent reply, “Sure. You are free to do so.”

“We’re hoping that you can provide us with some assistance in this. For example, unlocking the building Su Yu is hiding in. We won’t be able to enter his lodging otherwise. Additionally, we also hope that your subordinates can reign the death spirits in once they start appearing. I know you’re capable of both.”

Not waiting for the mayor to refuse, he added, “You know very well that if you stay too long in the city, it is only a matter of time before you become a part of the next generation of death spirits. Many generations of new death spirits have been produced. The mayors before you have all turned into death spirits. You must be well aware of that. The immortal race…might be able to slow down this transformation.”

“Immortals?” The mayor nodded, “The immortal race has a lot of tricks up their sleeve. Unlike the other races, immortals seem to have the ability to grow even stronger with age. And the longevity of your race is well-known among the myriad races.”

Dao Cheng was overjoyed, “In that case…”

“However,” The mayor added indifferently, “I don’t need your help. Humans, immortals, divines, or devils. All of them are the races I can’t afford to offend. If I help you today, will the immortals protect me against the backlash from the human Invincibles?”

“…”

Dao Cheng sank into silence. Beside him, Jiu Xuan hurriedly said, “Lord, the human race won’t resort to war for the sake of a single Su Yu.”

“Is that so?”

The mayor placed his wine glass down and said, “By that logic, what if I capture all of you and force the secrets of longevity out of you? The immortal race won’t resort to war because of you as well, right?”

The two immortals were greatly alarmed upon hearing that.

“Hahaha!”

The mayor suddenly laughed, “Just kidding. But the two of you know this well. I can help you with Su Yu today. The human race will not go to war with the immortal race for this. But I will be stuck in this city forever. Death will follow soon. Ancient cities…never lack mayors.”

He said, “Please do what you want. Don’t worry. I won’t leak your plan. Treat this as a regular banquet. I am aware of the alliance between the humans and the immortals. I won’t say what I shouldn’t.”

Dao Cheng frowned, but he soon smiled, “In that case, we’ll be imposing on you in the meantime. Don’t worry about the alliance between the immortals and humans. We might be allied, but we are also allowed to compete against each other. Everyone knows this. It’s not like Great Qin hasn’t been killing the experts of my race all this while.”

He wasn’t too worried. As long as they weren’t caught red-handed, everything would be fine. After all, Great Qin had been doing the same to them as well. Then again, they had also never stopped killing human experts whenever they found the chance to do so.

They only needed to maintain their alliance on paper. Similarly, the divines and devils were allied against the humans, but they would still fight each other. In fact, they would even fight openly if they had to. As long as they maintained the same attitude toward humanity, all was fine.

The mayor did not wish to get involved in this. Su Yu, or Mo Duona, or even the two young immortal geniuses here were people he didn’t wish to provoke. If they were capable, they could kill their targets with their own strength. If they weren’t capable, it was none of his business.

The mayor might also be an overlord of a region, but he only reigned in his own little region. The moment he left, any random top 100 race would be able to suppress him with their Invincibles.

As for the death qi he would accumulate as a result of staying in the city, that was the price he had to pay.

In fact, the offer of the immortal race was very tempting. Unfortunately, he couldn’t accept it. Even if he accepted their offer, they wouldn’t protect him. Nobody would help him if the human Invincibles decided to act against him.

It was very possible that the immortals would also be the ones to leak the information to the humans. After many years of struggle in the Allheaven Battlefield, he had long seen through the way of the myriad races.

Even when Xia Longwu nearly killed him back then, he had only charged the human race an entrance fee upon entering his city. He did nothing else against the humans.

Suddenly, a mystic armor expert spoke, “Lord, two of our young geniuses were dead. We won’t let this be. We hope for your understanding as slight disturbance might arise in the city soon.”

The mayor took a sip of wine and said, “Do what you wish. As long as you leave the city guards alone, I won’t get involved in your business.”

“Thank you, Lord!”

The mystic armor expert did not say anything else. In fact, he had been expecting the mayor to refuse their request. This mayor was too timid and indecisive. It was very unlikely that he would do something as rash as helping them against Su Yu.

Dao Cheng said, “We’ll be taking our leave, Lord. My apologies for bothering you today.”

“Take care.”

After they left, the mayor muttered, “Mo Duona is much stronger than Su Yu yet they are leaving him alone…”

He shook his head. In the end, Su Yu was suffering from the actions of the multiple character faction. Even the immortals did not wish to see the rise of the multiple character faction. In this aspect, their wish actually aligned with the divines and devils.

And with Su Yu’s ascension into the Heaven Index, the immortals finally lost their patience.