Tribulation of Myriad Races

Chapter 1017: Refuge (2)

News about the auction spread everywhere.

What he asked for, how he was going to carry out the auction, and his requirements were all being spread.

While on his way to Grandstar City, Zhu Guangshen cursed and said, "Umbra, go catch some Mountainseas. Why is that fellow being so troublesome about this?"

Umbra asked, "Prince, are we joining the auction?"

What he wanted to ask was if they could even afford it.

Did they have any heavenearth profound light? Did they have any sunmoon profound yellow liquid? Did they have enough to participate in the auction? What a joke. The human race was too poor.

Their cultivation history was far too short, resulting in far lesser accumulation as well. Sure, they had a lot of ancient ruins. But they had exhausted most of their discovered ruins. They wouldn't have been able to produce so many experts in such a short time otherwise.

Great Ming might be relatively wealthy, but their wealth was only in regular items. Strategic resources like the heavenearth profound light and sunmoon profound yellow liquid were rare even in Great Ming.

Zhu Guangsheng spoke in a helpless tone, "No matter what, we need to try our luck. Even if we can't afford it, we need to make things harder for the other major races. I've heard of ancient breathing techniques before. An ancient breathing technique can be used across races regardless of talent. Its main purpose is to strengthen one's talent, body, and even willpower. Someone with only enough talent to complete nine body forgings might be able to reach eighteen body forgings after cultivating the breathing technique. Basically, breathing techniques were the talent unlockers during the ancient times..."

One couldn't just forge one's body as many times as one wished. And one couldn't just open as many acupoints as one wished. For many people, there was a limit to their potential. Of course, Su Yu was not very familiar with this so-called limit. That was why he was known as a genius.

This was why most of these young geniuses were known as geniuses. Otherwise, one could simply become strong just by having a good background. Which Invincible descendant would lack cultivation resources? In the end, talent and potential were still important in cultivation.

Zhu Guangshen said, "I wonder what's the attribute of this breathing technique. There are all sorts of breathing techniques. Some are capable of strengthening the internal organs, some are good for strengthening the body, and some are good for strengthening one's willpower. Breathing techniques capable of strengthening one's willpower are the most valuable of all breathing techniques."

Umbra was unaware of all that. He asked curiously, "Prince, where did you learn about all that?"

Zhu Guangshen smiled, "My grandpa. He once encountered an expert with a breathing technique. Naturally, that expert isn't a human. Rather, it's a super expert from an ancient race."

"So such breathing techniques exist among the ancient races?"

"Yes." Zhu Guangshen nodded, "They're very rare, but they do exist in some ancient races. But these breathing techniques have never been transmitted to outsiders. This is one of the reasons for the ancient races to be so strong."

"Do the original devils and first immortals know any breathing techniques as well?"

Those two could be considered ancient races. It was likely that they had their own breathing techniques as well.

"Probably. But not everyone will be granted access. Perhaps the direct descendants of their Pseudo Emperors are allowed to learn these breathing techniques. But I doubt the regular devil kings and divine kings are in possession of these breathing techniques as well."

Breathing techniques were legacies from the past. The devil kings and divine kings who had emerged in recent times were unlikely to have access to these ancient legacies. Umbra nodded in understanding. In that case, this corpse would indeed be extremely valuable.

A breathing technique was capable of increasing one's potential. Just imagine how valuable it would be. For example, someone like Huang Teng might be cultivating an art capable of completing thirty-six body forgings. But that did not mean that he had actually completed thirty-six body forgings. Generally speaking, a ninth-stage Skysoar with thirty-six body forgings should have the strength of around 11,000 acupoints.

Such a ninth-stage Skysoar would be comparable to some of the weaker Mountainseas. But that was not the case for both Huang Teng and Qin Fang. They had never achieved the feat of killing a Mountainsea as a Skysoar.

Perhaps they had never gotten the opportunity to do so. Or they were simply not strong enough to do that. Only after entering the Cloudbreach Realm and starting their qi transformations did they gain the ability to kill Mountainseas.

Naturally, the number of body forgings these geniuses had completed was a secret. It was likely that some of these geniuses would be stuck after reaching thirty-three body forgings. But with a breathing technique, these people would be able to strengthen their foundation and complete more body forgings.

Meanwhile, it was very likely that Mo Duona had truly completed thirty-six body forgings or more. Nobody knew for sure, but he wouldn't be so freakishly strong otherwise.

***

While Zhu Guangshen was heading toward the ancient city, numerous other experts were doing the same.

The experts of the nine realms were rushing over. The experts of the clearbright birds from Red Clouds Island were also rushing over. Even the experts who had been wandering the region were rushing over.

Even if they couldn't participate in the auction, they still wanted to be there to partake in the bustle of the event. After all, even modern Invincible corpses were extremely rare, not to mention ancient Invincible corpses.

***

Words continued spreading everywhere.

Eventually, even those outside Sea of Stars learned of this. Humans, divines, devils, immortals...the major races started receiving news of the auction. Tianduo of the devil race was going to hold an auction in Grandstar City.

The asking price was astonishingly high. But the offered product was also astonishingly valuable. According to Tianduo, an ancient breathing technique and an ancient character could be found on the corpse.

***

As peace returned to Heavendoom, it started attracting visitors again. And some of them were talking about the coming auction as well.

Inner hall of the mayor's residence.

The stone statue was as calm as ever. But this was only natural. Everything in the city was perfectly under his control. Nothing in the city could hide from him. When he overheard the conversations about the auction, he thought of something.

A certain someone...seemed to have learned an incomplete breathing technique from him. He latched onto the keywords such as ancient city, breathing technique, and ancient Invincible corpse. He couldn't help but think about a certain expert troublemaker.

"Breathing technique...ancient Invincible corpse..."

What nonsense!

Ancient Invincible corpse? There was no such thing.

As for ancient breathing techniques, they weren't exactly rare, but they weren't common either. Even during the ancient times, most breathing technique cultivators were Invincibles. He was one such breathing technique cultivator. Yes, he was a breathing technique cultivator!

The stone statue sank into thought. Something felt off about this. This couldn't be true, right? Tianduo...he knew who Tianduo was. That was the young devil who had nearly died in his city not long ago. Someone like that had found an ancient corpse?

"Grandstar City..."

He was familiar with Grandstar. But it had been too many years. In fact, so many years had passed that he had nearly forgotten that name. Perhaps it was Grandstar City's turn to sink into chaos this time?

The more the stone statue thought about it, the more amused he felt. Good. Since he had experienced the chaos once, it was only fair for Grandstar to experience the same chaos as well. That way, he would be able to proudly claim that the previous chaos was not due to his incompetence. Instead, a certain human was simply too good at troublemaking.

***

Nobody knew what the stone statue was thinking.

It was extremely rare for these stone statues to communicate with anyone. In fact, not even all the puppet mayors knew that these stone statues were sentient. Some Invincibles were aware of the stone statues, but they were unwelcome in these ancient cities. Thus, there weren't even that many people these stone statues could talk to.

***

Experts and young geniuses started converging in the ancient city.

Meanwhile, Su Yu remained in his ancient building with the door shut. He ignored all attempts to communicate with him. He was busy thinking of a way out. His previous plan might not be perfect enough.

He also took the chance to extract more heavenly source qi as a backup. He might really need to spend some time in the city before escaping.

"I'm sure a lot of people are interested in buying. The things I have to offer are too attractive. Not even the devils can resist the temptation. Those from the Lade Family are coming..."

Numerous thoughts rose in his mind.

If there were a lot of participants, he would receive a large number of sealed Mountainseas. He could kill those Mountainseas and create chaos. But without a teleportation talisman, how was he supposed to leave when the city was sealed?

Was he supposed to remain as a death spirit until the entire thing was over? He felt very helpless. It would be great if he had a teleportation talisman. That would grant him a lot of flexibility.

What a pity that the mayor here did not seem very friendly. It was unlikely that this mayor would allow him to enter the inner hall. Even if the mayor did allow him entry, he would most likely be under constant monitoring during his time there.

He might even need to watch his back against the mayor if he went to the mayor's residence. Sure, killing him might cause some death spirits to appear, but that might not be an issue for the mayor.

"If I kill all the sealed Mountainseas, can I get Sunmoon death spirits to appear? Even if they appear, if there aren't enough of them, they won't be able to threaten those experts."

One or two early Sunmoon death spirits wouldn't be able to pose any danger to those super experts even if the city was sealed for three days. Then again, Su Yu wasn't trying to kill anyone this time. He only wanted to create an opening for him to escape.

So how should he accomplish that? This was so troublesome. Sure, he could remain as a death spirit until everyone was gone. He only needed to be patient. But death spirits were very rare during the day. Most of them would disappear automatically when it was daytime.

It would be way too conspicuous for him to remain as the sole death spirit when all the others had disappeared. In that situation, even a fool would notice that something wasn't right.

He could also hide in a building during the day and pretend to be a death spirit during the night. But what if those experts remained outside the city gates?

"There's a mota..."

Su Yu recalled a different alternative he had thought of earlier. Unlike the other cities, there was a moat filled with death qi around this city. Previously, had considered jumping into the moat to make his escape.

There must be a direct connection between the city and the moat, allowing the death qi from the city to flow into the moat. Previously, he had scouted the city and confirmed that there were indeed several spots in the city connected to the moat.

But...the moat seemed extremely dangerous. In fact, he had tried entering the moat the night before. However, the death qi erosion reached an unbearable level before he could even fully enter the moat. And that was the case even after he transformed into a death spirit. That was understandable since he was not a real death spirit.

Then again, the moat was only one of his options. He had other options as well. For example, he could convert himself into a permanent resident. That would allow him to stay in the city for a prolonged period of time. After becoming a resident, his body would start undergoing a transformation by the death qi in the city.

He had always been curious about one thing. Would the reversal art work after he became a resident? Would the art help him revert whatever transformation his body was subjected to? Nobody would expect him to actually become an ancient city resident. What if he did the unexpected?

"Perhaps I can give it a try tonight."