Tribulation of Myriad Races

The look in Su Yu’s eyes changed when he noticed that. Tian He indifferently said, “Since you have the courage to kill death spirits and have the ability to live until now, this little bit of death qi is probably not an issue for you. Give it a try. It’s pretty good. This is the most popular liquor of the death spirit race, known as the Death Fluid. It was brewed from corpse water and ten-thousand-year-old corpses…”

Su Yu sank into silence.

Tian He coldly said, “You have the courage to unleash slaughter in an ancient city. Are you afraid of something like this?”

Su Yu said nothing and drained the glass of wine in one gulp. Death qi started corroding his organs. But shortly after, a pure burst of life force erupted within his body, instantly healing his corroded organs.

He raised his head to look at the mayor in surprise. The mayor said, “Life and death. Only a thin line separates the two. Death leads toward life. At the very end of death is life.”

Su Yu couldn’t quite understand that statement. He solemnly said, “This student is ignorant and fails to understand the profundity behind those words.”

Tian He smiled, “Profundity? No, there is nothing profound about that. I am merely speaking from my own experience. You are very brazen. You even dare to drink the Death Fluid. Very few people have the courage to drink it.”

“Ignorance breeds courage.”

Su Yu gave a short reply.

Tian He smiled, “No. It’s not ignorance. It’s fearlessness. You are confident. You are certain that a mere glass of Death Fluid is not enough to take your life.”

Tian He asked another question, “Why did you enter the Allheaven Battlefield?”

“Strengthen myself.”

“What comes after?”

“Protect myself.”

“Only that?”

“Only that.”

Su Yu looked down and asked, “Why else would I need strength?”

“Have you never thought of activating the suppressive force of the Human Realm or conquering all realms in existence?”

“Not interested.” Su Yu spoke with a completely tranquil tone, “My enemies will be killed. Those trying to step on me will be killed. Race and creed do not matter.”

“That’s not a good thought to have.” Tian He laughed, “If that’s how you think, you will have a lot of enemies.”

“I will simply kill…until I can’t kill anymore.”

“What a murderous young man.” Tian He said, “In recent years, the most murderous human to have emerged is Xia Longwu. Prior to him, it was Ye Batian. And even earlier than that, it was Great Qin King. Ye Batian is dead. As for Xia Longwu…his dao affirmation will be extremely challenging. Are you trying to walk the same path as those people?”

With his head still lowered, Su Yu said, “I don’t walk anyone’s path. I am who I am. If I want to kill, I kill. If I don’t want to kill, nobody can make me do it. If anyone tries to make me do it, I’ll kill that person. I am murderous not because I want to kill. Instead, I am murderous to protect myself from being killed.”

“If I refuse to open the gates for you, will you kill me after you grow stronger?”

Su Yu’s head was still lowered as he answered, “No. You misunderstand me, Lord Mayor.”

Tian He laughed.

“You don’t mean those words.” Tian He said, “You will. If I refuse to let you go and you manage to survive, you will take your revenge against me after growing stronger.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

“I won’t.”

“…”

The old man standing beside Su Yu had the urge to laugh at that exchange.

Tian He also laughed. He said, “Since you won’t kill me, I won’t be releasing you, then.”

“I will.” Su Yu changed his answer instantly, “I am very good at holding a grudge. Of course, I am a lot more lenient when it comes to my grudge against experts. But…I am also very good at remembering the favors shown to me. If you help me today, I will return your favor a hundredfold in the future.”

“You? Repaying my favor?” Tian He asked, “What makes you think you have the ability to even help me with anything? Just because you killed Final Armor? What a joke. I could crush him with a single finger if I wanted to.”

Su Yu sank into silence. After a short moment, he spoke again, “I can see that your body is currently plagued by a high concentration of death qi. I don’t know if you’re cultivating the death qi or if this is simply something out of your control. But I do have a cultivation method capable of recovering one’s life force. It is an extremely rare cultivation method called the Long Life Art.”

“Long Life Art?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu tossed a cultivation manual over. That was the Life Trigger of the immortal race instead of the so-called Long Life Art, but he couldn’t use the same name, right? Also, he was not lying. With this art, one could produce life force in one’s body. But this was the modified version for the human race so it was actually useless for the mayor.

After all, the location of acupoints differed between races. He was only using this as a negotiating chip. The only art that would be of use to the mayor was the Source Acupoint Reversal of the death spirits.

That was not a cultivation method in the traditional sense. Rather, it was a method to reverse one’s source qi. It would work regardless of race as it did not care about the locations or number of acupoints opened. This was the true solution for death qi erosion.

Even if one had only one acupoint, one would be able to reverse source qi to death qi or vice versa with this method.

Its ability to reverse qi in both directions was the reason why it was so valuable. This was also the trump card Su Yu relied on to transform into a death spirit. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t reveal it to anyone.

As for the so-called Long Life Art he plagiarized from the immortals, it was a powerful and complicated art. However, it couldn’t be used by anyone. Humans might find it useful, but the mayor was not a human.

Tian He was quite surprised. He checked the manual and said, “This is something good. It’s…very complicated. This must be somewhat related to the Life Trigger of the immortals. What a pity that this version is only usable for humans.”

It was unfortunate that this wouldn’t be of help to him. He could only use it as a point of reference. If it was a version suitable for his race instead, it might really be able to deal with the excessive death qi in his body.

What a pity.

Nevertheless, this was still an incredible cultivation method. For the human race, this could be considered an invaluable treasure. It was especially valuable for those who were dying from old age. Su Yu sure was generous for offering him something like this. Not even Xia Longwu would be so generous with a cultivation method like this.

Tian He smiled and said, “I can see your sincerity. Unfortunately, I can’t directly use it. I can only use it as a point of reference. But I suppose this is still a decent offer.”

After a slight pause, he said, “If you wish to leave, that might be possible. But…I can’t open the gates.”

Su Yu’s expression changed. Why was that?

Tian He explained, “Everyone knows that you’re trapped here while I have not provided any party with any assistance. I have not opened the city gates for anyone. Neutrality. This is the rule for all ancient cities. I might be a mayor, but I can’t break the rule either.”

“If I open the gates for you, what will the other races think? You can leave, but what about me?”

Su Yu blanked out. True. He finally understood Tian He’s position. The mayor had not opened the gates for anyone. If the gates were opened for him alone, what would the others think?

Understanding dawned on Su Yu.

Tian He might offend the experts of numerous races letting him go. This was indeed an unreasonable request. He sighed inwardly. This was something he had not considered before.

He stood up and bowed slightly, “Thank you for dispelling my doubts, Mayor. I have been too presumptuous. In that case, I won’t leave. I will fight them to the death in this city. I only hope that you will remain neutral.”

He turned and started walking away.

Since this wasn’t going to work, he was left with only one choice: kill.

His killing intent further intensified. Even the old man beside him shivered from the killing intent. How murderous. This human genius was indeed very different than the other humans he had seen.

This was a decisive, and terrifying person.

The moment he realized that his current plan wouldn’t work, he left without any hesitation. The moment he stepped out of the mayor’s residence, a new round of slaughter would probably begin.

What a ruthless individual. Even back when Xia Longwu was this young, he was not as murderous. Just how many people had Su Yu killed to build such an intense killing intent?

Su Yu had indeed killed a lot of people. If the death spirits were considered people as well, he had basically killed more than a thousand people in a short amount of time.

Young geniuses, demonic beasts, single character faction members, divines, devils…he did not discriminate when killing.

Seeing that Su Yu was about to leave, Tian He laughed and said, “What’s the rush? I can’t open the gates for you, but it’s not like there is no alternative for you. There is an inner hall in the mayor’s residence. You can try your luck there. If you’re lucky enough, you might find a solution to your current predicament. If you’re not lucky enough to find something like that, feel free to do what you need to do. I won’t interfere.”

This was an interesting brat. Also a troublesome brat. Perhaps, only that person could deal with this brat. As for whether that person would be willing to help or not, that was out of his control.

Su Yu was surprised. He turned and respectfully said, “Thank you for the guidance, Mayor.”

Heavenly Hunt Pavilion!

According to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, there was an opportunity to be found in the mayor’s residence. And that so-called opportunity was located in the inner hall.

He had not encountered any of the ancient building opportunities. He did manage to get his hands on some ancient city medallions. But there was a third opportunity to be found in an ancient city: the mayor’s residence.

He had not expected that he would get the chance to search for the opportunity within the mayor’s residence.

“Tian Men, show him the way.”

“Yes!”

Tian Men was quite surprised as well. The inner hall had always been a forbidden zone.

After Su Yu and Tian Men left, the old man spoke through voice transmission, “Lord, why did you send him there? Is this…appropriate?”

While sipping on wine, Tian He smiled, “It’s fine. There is no hiding anything in the city from him. This is not a small headache, so it’s better to let him deal with it. I’m not an Invincible so this is out of my depth. Since I can’t kill or help him, I might as well do him this tiny favor. Regardless of the result, a favor will still be a favor.”

The old man did not say anything else. He naturally didn’t want to attract the attention of the existence in the inner hall.

That statue was a taboo in the city. But he still couldn’t understand the mayor’s reasoning for reaching that decision.

Once again, Tian He picked up the cultivation manual and sighed. What a pity. This was an excellent cultivation method, but it wasn’t suitable for him. The death qi in his body was getting thicker and thicker.

Could Xia Longwu really cut the death qi away?

A self-mocking smile formed on his face. Perhaps this was merely a beautiful dream on his part.

***

In the inner hall, the stone statue opened his eyes and looked at Su Yu and Tian Men who were heading his way.

Then, his gaze landed on Tian He. What an expert at shirking responsibility. That damn fellow had a habit of throwing all sorts of troubles his way. What even was the point of having the fake mayor around if he was going to do that?

The stone statue grumbled that he had already turned into stone. Why did he still need to deal with all these troubles?

A short while later, Su Yu stepped into the inner hall. The stone statue had already shut his eyes. He decided to pretend Su Yu wasn’t there. He really didn’t feel like doing anything.

Tian Men had also entered the inner hall. His gaze landed on the stone statue, but he was completely unsurprised. This stone statue could not be damaged or moved. It had existed since time immemorial and had never caused them any trouble. But why…did it look like the stone statue’s brows were furrowed today? Was he seeing things?