Chapter 916: A Favor

On the way back from the cave, You Xue asked, “Fellow Daoist, why did you imprison the White Bone Emperor instead of just killing him back then?”

“It’s actually quite simple. When I last explored Fallen God Valley, I set my sights on a thirty-thousand-year Nightcall Flower, and the old skeleton insisted on trying to steal it from me,” Su Yi said casually. “He couldn’t beat me, so he attempted to threaten Little Leaf and force me to hand it over. I naturally couldn’t let him off lightly.

“However, he never really tried to hurt her. Out of consideration for that, I simply took back the Nightcall Flower and imprisoned him instead of dealing a lethal blow.”

You Xue instantly understood. A moment later, she hesitated, then probed, “Were I to encounter danger, would you intervene on my behalf too?”

As she said this, she subconsciously lowered her head and avoided Su Yi’s gaze.

“I would,” said Su Yi without even stopping to think.

It was just two calm, casual words, but a smile rose on You Xue’s red lips.

On her cold, aloof face, a smile was extraordinarily radiant. Her heart filled with joy too great to put into words.

She was well aware of how difficult it was to receive such an answer from Su Xuanjun.

“Fellow Daoist, where are we going next?” she asked softly.

“We’re going to round up a few more old monsters and ask them for a ‘favor,’” Su Yi said casually.

You Xue’s expression instantly turned a bit strange.

You call that asking for a favor? You’re obviously just twisting their arms.

……

Falling Star Mountain.

This was another of the nine most dangerous places in the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

The mountain stretched for eight hundred miles, and it was home to numerous evil spirits wrought from the souls of departed yao. Their ranks included a few utterly terrifying Imperial-level evil spirits.

But the strongest was an evil spirit born of the soul of a Bifang Bird. He was known as Divine?Monarch Falling Star.

He looked like an ancient man with the air of a Daoist immortal. He was dressed in deep blue Daoist?robes and carried a feather whisk.

But those who understood him knew that he was the type to eat a man alive without bothering to spit out the bones!

“Old Brother Qing Teng, what have you brought these cultivators here for?” Divine Monarch Falling Star glanced at Su Yi and his companions, then laughed.

“Do something for me.”

It was Su Yi that responded. He revealed the Book of Diting and got straight to the point. “If you agree, I’ll leave you a path to life. If you don’t, don’t blame me for helping you agree.”

Divine?Monarch Falling Star was flabbergasted, and he could barely believe his ears. “Old Brother Qing Teng, where did this kid come from? He’s gone downright insane with arrogance!”

Qing Teng said expressionlessly, “Insane? Not at all. Old Bifang, I urge you to cooperate and save yourself some pain.”

Divine Monarch Falling Star’s eyelids twitched, and his expression gradually darkened. “That so? In all my years of cultivating in the City of the Wrongfully Dead, I’ve never feared anyone’s threats. Never mind you, Qing Teng; even if that crow and its subordinates showed up together, they could forget about making me lower my head!”

He spoke with firm conviction, and an appalling, explosive presence spread out around him.

Su Yi didn’t waste any time talking. He waved, and…

Boom!

The White Bone Emperor appeared out of thin air, his eye sockets blazing like golden torches as he locked onto Divine Monarch Falling Star, like a sharp blade ready to strike.

Whoosh!

You Xue drew the Burning Silence Ruler.

Divine Monarch Falling Star had been proud, resolute, and domineering just moments prior, but when he saw this, he gasped, and his expression changed. He couldn’t help but say, “White Bone Emperor! You.. why… why are you..?”

The White Bone Emperor just said flatly, “You either help, or you die. Choose for yourself, Old Bifang. Any more wasted words, and don’t blame me for my poor manners!”

Divine Monarch Falling Star gulped with great difficulty.

His heart was full of countless doubts. He couldn’t fathom how someone had imprisoned the White Bone Emperor in the Book of Diting, or how a mysterious woman had gotten her hands on the Netherworld King’s Burning Silence Ruler.

More than that, he couldn’t understand why the ruler of the Little Necropolis, Qing Teng, would treat this young man in blue with such respect.

All he understood was that if he didn’t make a decision, the consequences were sure to be dire.

After a moment’s silence, the Falling Star Divine Monarch sighed in dejection and lowered his head.

……

Su Yi and company then proceeded to the scattered perilous and forbidden grounds of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, taking with them the terrifying old monsters that called these places home.

Every one of them was a ruler of their respective forbidden ground.

But when Su Yi showed up on their door with the White Bone Emperor, Heavenspan Yao Vine, Divine Monarch Falling Star, and numerous others, every last one of these terrifying existences lowered their heads…

……

Four hours later, a blood-red lake surrounded by mountains.

The waters were boundlessly vast, and the red liquid was thick, like an endlessly churning lake of blood. The space above the lake was in chaos, with numerous spatial rifts hovering in the air, slicing the heavens to ribbons.

The Chaotic Void Blood Lake!

This was yet another of the most dangerous places in the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Even the evil spirits and souls of the dead dared not enter.

This was because the Chaotic Void Blood Lake was surrounded by spatial rifts year-round. Here, even Emperors faced almost certain death.

Su Yi appeared out of nowhere. He was alone; this place was so dangerous that he’d had the others wait far away.

“Ol’ White Eyebrows, come on out. Be quick about it.” Su Yi stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly. His voice instantly spread throughout the entirety of the Chaotic Void Blood Lake.

Suddenly, an elderly dwarf floated out of one of the numerous spatial rifts. He was only about a foot tall, and his head was completely bald, but his long eyebrows were as white as snow.

He gripped a black, twisted, serpentine cane as he slowly emerged from the spatial rift. When he saw Su Yi standing by the lakeside, he looked confused, and he snorted coldly, “Little baby, you sure got guts. How dare you shout in this old man’s territory? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get yourself killed?”

As his voice spread, the waters of the enormous blood lake churned, and the rifts hovering in the air swayed, like countless gaping maws. Terrifying spatial fluctuations spread outward.

But Su Yi ignored this entirely, then gently tapped the green-skinned gourd at his waist.

Clang!

The strange humming of a sword reverberated throughout heaven and earth.

It went off in the white-eyebrowed dwarf’s heart like a thunderclap. His expression changed dramatically, and he thwapped?his shiny bald head and let out a strange shout. “You… You’re…!!”

His voice was full of unconcealed astonishment and deep-seated dread.

Su Yi smiled faintly. “A little baby, am I? Want to try calling me that again?”

The elderly dwarf quivered and plastered a toadyish smile across his aged face. “Earlier, I was blind. I didn’t recognize your current incarnation. Please forgive me, Your Excellency Su!”

His words dripped with flattery.

“Cut the crap. Do you remember our agreement?” asked Su Yi.

The elderly dwarf hurriedly responded with a solemn vow. “I’d forget my own parents before I’d forget our agreement, Your Excellency Su!”

“I want to take a trip to the Dark Capital,” said Su Yi, “and I need your help.”

The elderly dwarf was stunned, and he could barely believe his ears. How could Su Xuanjun, the man unsurpassed throughout the heavens, need my help with something so simple as a trip to the Dark Capital?

“Is there a problem?” Su Yi asked casually.

The elderly dwarf jumped, then shuddered and said hurriedly, “Your Excellency Su, please don’t misunderstand! I was just so surprised. I would never have guessed that I’d receive an opportunity to be of service to you in this lifetime. This honor is absolutely worth more than eight lifetimes of accumulated karmic merit!”

Su Yi stretched out his hand and summoned the Book of Diting. “For now, go inside. I’ll naturally let you out when I need you.”

The dwarf’s pupils constricted. The Book of Diting!

No matter how confused he might be, he was absolutely certain that this Spiritual Revolution Realm young man and the unsurpassed, legendary Su Xuanjun were one and the same!

He truly couldn’t think of anyone else capable of borrowing the Book of Diting?from the Night Watchman.

Besides, the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos was Su Xuanjun’s most terrifying weapon, as well as the weapon he liked best!

“Your Excellency Su, might I be so bold as to make a tiny request?” the dwarf asked cautiously.

Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly. “Speak.”

This old dwarf was none other than Old Yao White Eyebrows, the Radiant Void Beast that occupied the Chaotic Void Blood Lake. He had innate control over the Laws of Space, and he could shuttle freely between planes.

Historically, even the mightiest of the City of the Wrongfully Dead’s old monsters weren’t willing to offend the old codger lightly.

The reason was simple: due to his master over spatial power, if he wanted to flee, almost no one could stop him.

Conversely, if he wanted to get back at someone, there was no predicting when he’d tear open a rift, appear in your home territory, and catch you off guard.

It had happened before, and more than once at that!

Back in the day, after Su Yi subdued this old yao, he chased him throughout the Dark Capital before finally using the power of a sword domain to seal off all possible escape routes.

Then, after Old Yao White Eyebrows admitted defeat, he begged for mercy, vowing to follow all of Su Yi’s orders so long as he lived, even if it cost him his life.

Old Yao White Eyebrows said hurriedly, “This old man hopes to stay by your side and contribute to your cause a while longer. Were it possible to serve you forever, that would naturally be even better!”

After a brief daze, Su Yi smiled faintly. “Seems to me that you’re trying to seize this opportunity to escape the City of the Wrongfully Dead.”

Old Yao White Eyebrows instantly felt awkward, and he bashfully rubbed his cane.

A moment later, he took a deep breath, raised his right hand, and said solemnly, “I swear by the heavens themselves that, although I indeed long to escape the City of the Wrongfully Dead, I am absolutely sincere in my willingness to serve you, no matter the difficulty! I absolutely have no ulterior motives!”

“I’ll consider it,” said Su Yi. He pointed at the Book of Diting. “For now, go inside.”

“Yes, sir!” Old Yao White Eyebrows paused briefly to bow to Su Yi, then blurred into a streak of light and shot into the Book of Diting.

“Now it’s time to visit the Dark Capital,” said Su Yi, letting out a turbid breath of air.

Without any further delays, he put away the Book of Diting, turned, and left.