Chapter 581: Layers (2)
On the mountain.
Su Yu's group was continuing their search when a voice rang out, "Where did you come from?"
The Starfall Mountain was not completely devoid of people. This place was filled with bandits and cultists. After the destruction of the Divine Skywing Sect, many of their former members started their own criminal organizations here, living off robbing the passing merchants.
And those with the courage to do such a thing would definitely not be weak. Su Yu didn't even spare that person a look and pulled his saber.
Whoosh!
A head was sent flying into the air. That was an Infinite Strength cultivator. That was nothing for him. This was probably a scout of one of the bandit groups in the area. Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to question the bandit.
Beside him, Ji Xiaomeng asked curiously, "Are you not afraid of wrongly killing an innocent individual? Why did you kill him before asking any questions?"
Su Yu indifferently said, "Nobody here is innocent. A normal person won't be standing here blocking the path of people passing by. Those with the courage to do so can simply be killed. None of the people blocking the path here is innocent."
His logic was simple. Would an ordinary person be here questioning those who were passing by? One ought to remember that it was still the middle of the night and they were in a place like the Starfall Mountain.
"What if that person was here because of an emergency?" Ji Xiaomeng asked.
Su Yu didn't even deign to answer that question. Nearby, Li Minyu smiled and said, "Junior Sister Ji, that's easy to answer. Here in the wilderness, everyone acts in accordance with a set of rules. If you really need to ask for help, you need to introduce yourself from far away before saying anything else. Those standing in one's way without introducing themselves are most likely bandits or enemies. These people can be killed without hesitation."
"Oh." Ji Xiaomeng nodded and cheerfully said, "Thank you, Senior Sister. This is my first time away from home. I don't know all these rules."
"It's fine. You'll learn more with experience."
While saying that, Li Minyu gazed at Su Yu with amazement. This junior brother of hers was young, but his eyes were surprisingly sharp.
"Su Yu, have you trained in the wilderness before?"
Su Yu indifferently answered, "Not really. Before I joined the academy, my teacher brought me to a few places. There, I got the chance to experience some things and kill some bandits."
He was referring to Liu Wenyan. After he formed his first Divine Character, Liu Wenyan had shown him a lot of things. He was brought to the Xia Trade Company to see some beast corpses, he was brought to the Windcatcher Department to do some mission, he was sent to kill some bandits, and he was also sent to explore the wilderness. Of course, he had not gone too deeply into the wilderness during that time.
Liu Wenyan had not taught him any theories or powerful techniques. The only thing Liu Wenyan did was show him some things. Perhaps for Liu Wenyan, these experiences were more important than the so-called theories and techniques. During that period of time, Su Yu had spent a lot of time away from his home and learned a lot of things.
"Are you talking about Teacher Bai Feng?"
"No."
Su Yu gave a short answer without bothering to explain more. Suddenly, his eyes flickered. The sight before him looked somewhat familiar. A massive mountain peak stood before him. This seemed to be the same mountain peak he had seen while reading the deceased sect master's memories. That scene had only appeared for a split second, but he could still recognize this mountain peak.
The hidden treasure vault was most likely nearby. The mountain peak was here. The canyon was nearby. Even the unique plants he saw back then were here. The treasure vault was definitely nearby.
Su Yu's heart thumped. The moment he found the treasure vault, the battle would begin. His gaze landed on Xia Qing's group. Xia Qing just happened to be looking at him as well. When she met his gaze, her heart started palpitating for an unknown reason. What was going on?
The look in Su Yu's eyes changed as he smiled and said, "Princess Xia, I think we're going to reach my destination soon. Be careful, everyone. I suspect we're being tailed. Those people will make a move the moment we arrive. Watch out."
The air warped as Great Mountain appeared. He said, "Be careful. Something seems off. We're probably being tailed by Mountainseas."
"Don't worry."
Su Yu smiled. The show was about to start.
Great Mountain, One-eye, Bloodmoon, and the two guards of Xia Huyou. And there's also the Mountainsea who had followed me during his trip to the Myriad Race Pit. I wonder if he's here as well.
Those were the five Mountainseas that would side with him. They did not have the numerical advantage, but Su Yu didn't seem worried. At the critical moment, Zhu Tiandao would make a move.
The only thing he needed to do was to force them to attack him. He could kill those from the Myriad Race Cult without any reason, but that was not the case for the single character faction. He needed those people to attack him first to create an excuse to kill them. Otherwise, not even Zhu Tiandao could find a reason to do anything against them.
Sure, it wasn't like Zhu Tiandao was afraid of the consequences, but it would still bring Great Ming some unnecessary trouble. For Su Yu, just having those people present wasn't enough. He needed them to actually make a move.
He needed to create a proper excuse before getting all those people killed. An even bigger show would unfold after this incident. Su Yu already had a recording talisman on standby. After this, he would spread the recordings everywhere. He had nothing to fear. As for the difficult situation those recordings would place Great Xia in...well, why should he care?
Since he had decided to defect to Great Ming, he needed to start siding with Great Ming. Thus, he would prioritize Great Ming's benefits. He needed to create a good reason for his defection. He wanted to show the world that he was forced to do this. He was not a traitor.
That was what Chen Yong had told him. He needed to ensure that he would always have a way out. Otherwise, he would be known as a traitor. Having ruined his own reputation, it would be hard for him to do more things in the future.
Once again, his gaze landed on Xia Qing's gaze. He had to first kill with a borrowed knife. The experts from Xia Qing's group were still useful for now. Regardless of how brazen they were, they wouldn't dare to attack him immediately. After all, that was too risky. If even a word of this was leaked, all of them would die. They would probably wait until the result was assured before making a move against him.
Well, I guess I can put them to use for now.
While thinking about all that, Su Yu continued his search. The longer he walked, the more familiar his surroundings seemed. This was the place he had seen in the memories he read. He was going to reach his destination soon!
While walking, he said, "We're near the ruin. But remember to not run around rashly. The ruin is very dangerous. I am the only person capable of opening the entrance. My blood is the key to opening the ruin. You can only enter by killing me, but Great Xia won't let this slide. Right, apart from my blood, you also need a corresponding hand incantation to open the ruin. Don't think of doing anything stupid, everyone."
At this time, an impatient voice rang out from the sky, "Su Yu, stop with the bullshit. Nobody here is going to kill you."
That was the old sky horse.
Su Yu smiled and said, "You misunderstand me, Senior. I'm only saying all this to prevent any future misunderstandings."
He was basically telling them that even if they wanted to capture him and drain his blood for the ruin, they would still need him alive. And without him, they wouldn't be able to do anything even if they knew where the ruin was.
Su Yu was worried that the single character faction would try to keep their hands clean after going this far. Thus, he was ensuring that they would try to get their hands on his blood. This was his way of forcing their hand.
While Su Yu was getting nearer and nearer to his destination. Somewhere away from them.
One expert after another appeared. Zhou Pingsheng was one of them. He had disguised himself, completely changing his appearance. He was busy working on something with a few other individuals.
At this time, One-eye appeared out of thin air. After giving Zhou Pingsheng a glance, he looked at Xue'e and said, "Your mission is to seal this mountain and prevent anyone from entering and leaving. Make sure to not let even a single person escape from the mountain. Even if a Mountainsea is attacking, keep them occupied. There are eight Cloudbreach cultivators here. You won't have any issues keeping a single Mountainsea occupied for some time."
One-eye's voice turned cold as he said, "Of course, if you are confident you can escape me, feel free to let them through."
He then looked at Zhou Pingsheng and coldly said, "As for you...your group is in charge of distrupting all communication channels. But I dobut this is a task a few Cloudbreach cultivators can accomplish."
Zhou Pingsheng merely snorted and took out several talismans. Instantly, the talismans flew in all directions. He had a look of contempt as he did that. How would these people understand the greatness of cultural researchers?
This was a simple task. There was no need for Mountainseas to do something like this. They only needed a formation to accomplish this task. One-eye merely laughed and vanished again without saying anything.
The people below the Mountainsea Realm were spread all over the mountain, ensuring that nobody would be able to enter or leave the mountain. The real battle would erupt on the mountain itself. And with so many Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators surrounding the mountain, they would be able to slow down any Mountainsea trying to leave or enter.
While working on his formation, Zhou Pingsheng couldn't help but steal a glance at the deep canyon. Finally, Su Yu was going to die. This mountain was going to be Su Yu's grave. Zhou Pingsheng was tempted by the ruin as well, but he could only helplessly give up at the thought of the gathered Mountainseas.
Suddenly, his voice transmission talisman shook. When he checked it, he saw Yu Hong's message: "Leave the communication channel open for our talismans. Don't let the others notice this. Also, prepare yourself and notify the others to set up another formation around the mountain. We need to make this a clean job so none of the cultists can be spared as well."
Yu Hong had finally given her order. She was ensuring that everything here would go to the single character faction. Regardless of whether it was Su Yu, the ruin, or even the cultists, all of them would fall into the single character faction's hands.
The single character faction wouldn't be comfortable with allowing any of these people to escape alive. Even if these people had never seen the true appearances of these single character faction members, as Mountainseas, they would still be able to recognize the single character faction members through their aura. Thus, not one of these people could be spared.
Zhou Pingsheng's expression did not change. He agreed with this plan. If these people were allowed to leave, they would pose a lot of trouble in the future. He was more than happy to abide by Yu Hong's orders.
He spoke to the voice transmission talisman, "Set up a formation around the mountain. Do not allow anyone to escape."
Somewhere further away from them, a massive hidden formation started rising.
Inside the small village.
Zhu Tiandao found himself speechless. Holy shit. How many layers would this go? How many formations were these people going to set? The single character faction had laid down several formations. The Myriad Race Cult had done the same as well. Even the random individual cultivators were laying down their own formations. Was this jackpot? If he could seize all these formation talismans, he would be able to sell them for at least 500 thousand merit points!
Just look at these people. Every last one of them was a treacherous snake. Was this how the world outside Great Ming looked like? Every single person seemed to have their own hidden agenda. And way more Mountainseas than he expected had arrived.
He couldn't help but ask, "Old Hou, is Great Ming falling behind the times?"
Director Hou stayed silent. Yes. Great Ming had fallen behind by a lot. Holy shit. Those from Great Ming would probably be schemed to death the moment they left Great Ming.
Just look at what was happening here. Layer after layer of trap had been laid. The mountain was practically filled with formations. Every single one of these people was scheming to swallow everything here, and every single one of these people was trying to wipe out all competition.
If Su Yu had not informed them about this earlier, they would probably remain completely clueless about everything that was happening even if this place was within their borders.
The single character faction was trying to exterminate the cultists. The cultists were also making their own preparations to guard against any betrayal. In the sky, there were dozens of high-tier recording talismans.
If they hadn't laid down Great Ming King's formation on the mountain in advance, they wouldn't have been able to see everything so clearly. This whole thing was getting so dangerous that even Sunmoons might perish today.
Suddenly, Zhu Tiandao clenched his teeth and said, "I need to tell my old man about this. Damn it! I'm afraid I won't be able to shoulder the backlash. The War Shrine and the Knowledge Seeking Realm would ask for explanations for the death of any Sunmoon."
It was time for him to seek help. Holy shit. That Su Yu was so good at creating trouble that he was starting to get worried. The kid hadn't even joined them yet but his heart was already beating madly.