Chapter 972: End Of The Ancient City Incident (1)
The ancient city was in chaos. Sunmoons were dying in droves.
Massive armies started gathering near the borders, on alert against any potential aggression.
The central sector was ruled by the demonic beasts. But due to the Sea of Stars serving as the natural border, things were less tense between the various forces there. Furthermore, the demonic beasts were not united. Thus, the defenses for the borders of the central sector were quite slack.
The Allheaven Battlefield was relatively square in shape. Occupying the four directions were the divines, immortals, humans, and devils. As for the central area, the existence of the massive Sea of Stars rendered it inconvenient for most races to live in. Thus, it became a territory of the dragons, including numerous demonic beasts, despite its strategic location.
Of course, the demonic beasts as a whole were very powerful. That was especially true for the dragon race. But the dragons did not consider themselves demons. Thus, the other demonic beast races had been left in a disordered manner. None of them was capable of unifying all the demonic beasts.
The situation between the various demonic beast races was even more chaotic than the humans since the various human prefectures still had a joint military command. In truth, not a single race among the various races was truly united.
For example, the original devils ruled as the overlords over the other devils, suppressing them with strength. But the suppression wasn't easy and they still weren't able to obtain absolute power over the other devils. Furthermore, the more powerful sub-races under them, such as the blood fire devils, would always act independently, causing them countless issues. The divines were in a similar situation.
As for the immortals, the division between factions was not as clear. In fact, the immortals resembled the humans more than the divines and devils politically. However, there was a unique branch among the immortals known as the ancient immortals. It was rumored that the inheritance of this branch had not been severed since ancient times.
However, their dominance was not as obvious as the original devils and first divines over their respective races. For the most part, the factions within the immortals were split according to their immortal kings instead of their sub-races. This was how these races operated.
But despite the chaos among these races, they were all united against the humans. The single point they all agreed on was the fact that humanity could not be allowed to activate their suppressive force.The human race was strong. It was the overlord of the myriad races during the ancient times. All the older races were well aware of this. But since humanity had lost their hegemony, there was no way the myriad races would allow them to return to their previous position. Not one wanted to be a vassal or subordinate of another race.
The human race had a decent number of Invincibles. It did not have a publicly acknowledged Human Emperor or Pseudo Human Emperor, but Great Qin King was absolutely not weak. Furthermore, the human race also had a large number of Sunmoons and Mountainseas.
And because of their immunity to the suppressive force of other realms, they posed a massive threat to all other races. If they were allowed to activate their suppressive force on top of all their other advantages, nobody would be able to stop humanity from once again reigning atop the myriad races.
Thus, each race assumed a unique stance toward humanity. They could tolerate humanity growing strong, but they would absolutely not tolerate the appearance of a cultural researcher Invincible among humanity.
That was the bottom line. That was the case fifty years ago, and that was still the case.
***
With Su Yu's ascension to the top of the Heaven Index, Liu Wenyan's ascension to the top of the Earth Index, and Hong Tan's preparations to disseminate the disassembly method in the Human Realm, the fifth principal's line once again became the focal point of the Myriad Realms.
The fifth principal's line, or to be precise, the original line of the multiple character faction, had six successors. They were respectively Liu Wenyan, Hong Tan, Chen Yong, Bai Feng, Su Yu, and Wu Jia. People like Xia Yunji, Zhao Mingyue, and Hu Ping were considered a part of the faction as well, but they were not the direct successors of the line.
Strictly speaking, only those from under Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan could be considered the direct successors. Furthermore, Xia Yunji, Zhao Mingyue, and Hu Ping were most certainly far less threatening or talented than those from the direct successors. After the incident in the ancient city, Liu Wenyan returned to the human territory.
He was already old. With the destruction of Ye Batian's characters, his level of threat had actually dropped significantly. Of course, he was still not completely unthreatening since several of Ye Batian's characters were still in his possession.
However, they were far less dangerous since they were no longer sufficient to activate Ye Batian's character technique. Basically, their line had caught the attention of the myriad races. And Su Yu was the one who had caught the most attention.
***
Su Yu had vanished from the public eye. Nobody knew where he was.
A lot of people were paying close attention to him, including some of the experts in the human realm.
Great Xia City.
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
Wan Tiansheng was looking at the latest copy of the Heavenly Hunt Index.
1st on Heaven Index: Su Yu.
2nd on Heaven Index: Mo Duona.
3rd on Heaven Index: Zhan Wushuang
4th on Heaven Index: Dao Cheng
5th on Heaven Index: Ming Yue
6th on Heaven Index: Xuan Wuji
7th on Heaven Index: Long Yingyue
***
The Heaven index had changed greatly, with the biggest changes being the additions of Su Yu and Dao Cheng.
As for the two dragons who had killed the pinned-down Sunmoon, they were not able to enter the Heaven Index despite their kill. Yes, their past combat accomplishments looked impressive due to that kill, but the index took a lot more factors into consideration when assigning ranks.
Su Yu was not assigned the top rank just because of the people he had killed. Rather, the Heavenly Hunt Index had measured his potential and gave him that rank. In short, the index believed that Su Yu had an extremely high chance of affirming his dao in the future.
As for Dao Cheng, his new rank was also not something assigned due to his kill. Rather, the Heavenly Hunt Index might have detected a certain change in him. This, it judged that among the young generation, Dao Cheng was the fourth most likely genius to eventually affirm his dao.
As for Liu Wenyan's new rank, it was a mystery how the index concluded that he deserved that rank. Furthermore, Liu Wenyan was no longer at the top of the Earth Index. Due to Dao Cheng's ascension, someone else had dropped from the Heaven Index, pushing Liu Wenyan one rank lower.
That individual was a member of the celestial chasm race. Like Ming Yue, the fifth ranker of the Heaven Index, this individual came from an ancient race as well. The celestial chasm was an ancient race, and it was extremely well-known. In fact, an Invincible of this race was the very person who had killed Ye Batian.
Back then, Ye Batian faced two Invincibles in battle. One of them was killed while the other killed Ye Batian before leaving with grievous injuries. The surviving Invincible was the one from the celestial chasm, the race known for their mastery over curses.
And today, a genius of such a powerful race was kicked out of the Heaven Index. Looking at the name, Wan Tiansheng sank into deep contemplation.
Killing a fourth-stage Sunmoon.
Yes, he was well aware this was a result brought upon by numerous factors colliding together. This was not repeatable.
Even so, this still showcased the massive growth Su Yu had undergone. He wouldn't have been able to withstand the prowess of Sunmoon characters otherwise. Wan Tiansheng concluded that at the very least, Su Yu's sea of willpower was already at the same level as a weak Mountainsea.
Powerful sea of willpower, characters, and physical body...
Su Yu, the one who would battle Mountainseas as a Cloudbreach...
Wan Tiansheng had thought that the battle would happen not long after Su Yu became a Cloudbreach. But that might not necessarily be the case. Contrary to what he had believed, the type of Mountainseas the kid would face might not necessarily be the weak Mountainseas. Rather, they might be the extremely powerful ones.
They might even be the truly crazy ones who were capable of defeating Sunmoons. That was such a terrifying thought.
Wan Tiansheng continued pondering. He wasn't too worried about Su Yu's well-being. The Allheaven Battlefield was massive. And it was filled with mysteries. Even Invincibles would have a hard time hunting down a single individual there.
Rather, Wan Tiansheng was more worried about Liu Wenyan. What was Liu Wenyan planning to do next? After all, he had crushed a majority of Ye Batian's characters. Would anything unexpected happen there?
As for Su Yu...Wan Tiansheng decided to let the kid run wild. Whatever. Go wild. He was certain that the kid would survive and return to the Human Realm. After all, he had seen the kid fighting Mountainseas as a Cloudbreach inside the Human Realm. Then again, that was the only thing Principal Wan could do: believe in the kid.
Principal Wan was comforted at the fact that his one hundred years of lifespan had not been sacrificed for nothing. At the very least, he knew that Su Yu would return alive. He also knew that when Su Yu started fighting Mountainseas, the massive battle he saw in the vision would be near.
"Liu Wenyan...Su Yu..."
Wan Tiansheng muttered, "Perhaps this incident is the spark of war. But the human race was still unable to make a firm resolution. Too many things are holding us back. A lot of voices are demanding that we hand over Su Yu and Liu Wenyan to the myriad races. A lot of people are also demanding that humanity abandon them."
Wan Tiansheng started pacing as he muttered, "Is it possible that the key to unleashing the chaos building up in Great Xia is Su Yu? Is he the one who will cause the turmoil among humanity?"
But would Su Yu return anytime soon? That seemed unlikely. Perhaps he would return in disguise? Wan Tiansheng was unsure. Fortunately, he had left something in Su Yu's body. Thus, he would be able to sense it the moment the kid returned. Perhaps...the next time Su Yu stepped foot in Great Xia again, that would be the signal that the battle wasn't that far away.
"Two paths...one in the Allheaven Battlefield and one in Great Xia. Xia Longwu is managing the path in the Allheaven Battlefield while I'm managing the path here."
Would the two paths activate at the same time? Or would the path in Great Xia activate first? His gaze landed on the Multiple Character Faculty and settled on Hong Tan. But even after a long time, he was unable to reach a conclusion.
Everything seemed to be slipping out of control. Su Yu had ruined a lot of his plans. Even Zhou Polong had caught a lot of attention due to Su Yu. All his plans were unraveling. That damn kid was a super troublemaker!
"I need Great Xia to become the center of attention again."
Attention...Su Yu currently commanded a lot of attention. Should he find a way to make the kid return, then?
"This is so troublesome. That damn kid probably believes that it won't be too late for him to return once the action starts. But he does not know that due to all his troublemaking, the action might not even start without his presence anymore."
Wan Tiansheng continued thinking. Soon, his gaze landed on Hong Tan again. Perhaps...he would have to trouble that fellow instead. If that fellow was on the verge of being beaten to death, that damn kid would return, right? If not Hong Tan, Bai Feng could be the one to take the beating instead.
"First on Heaven Index...what's the point? That's too eye-catching."
Then, Wan Tiansheng spread his senses over the city again. Xia Longwu was still not around. Marquis Xia had left for the Allheaven Battlefield with a group of people. And without a strong leadership, all sorts of individuals were coming out of the shadows.
Furthermore, the large number of experts accompanying the myriad race students had also settled down in the city, turning the city into an even bigger powder keg. Wan Tiansheng laughed with amusement. How brazen. Some of those people had even tried to pry upon his true strength. The experts from the divine and devil races had been trying to spy on him in recent days.
How audacious. Wan Tiansheng decided to note down all their names. Even the cultists who had established contact with these myriad race experts were noted down. The capital city had turned into a den of thieves. Excellent.
Right at that moment, one of his voice transmission talismans shook. Wan Tiansheng's gaze landed on the spot where he kept his talismans. There were about nine of them in total, and one of them was vibrating.
After taking a look, he replied, "Remain undercover."
Somewhere else, a certain chubby youth replied, "What? Old Wan, I don't know why I feel like my real identity has long been exposed. But for some reason, everyone has merely been keeping an eye on me instead of doing anything."
"No. Your cover is not blown. Don't worry."
"That's not true!" Jia Mingzhen said, "Old Wan, I have a very strong feeling that my cover is already blown. Maybe I should return. I feel like a bunch of wolves are staring at me hungrily."
"Don't worry. If they try to do anything to you, just lure them into the capital."
"Fine."
Jia Mingzhen ended the conversation helplessly and sank into thought. Was his cover really not blown? But why did he feel like his cover was already blown? He kept having a feeling that someone was observing him. Was Old Wan reliable or not?
He really wanted to go back. Life out here was too uncomfortable.
Sigh.