His real body had the Imperial Descent qilin battle axe, and the Black Phoenix fought with seventh tier Dao Querying strength.

His Heaven Devouring Avatar was slightly weaker, but it still had some space to grow. Space that was controllable for Wu Yu.

However, the sixth level of the Ancient Soul Tower was filled with mud-based Spirits of the Universe. The Heaven Devouring Avatar was not good at devouring those, being more inclined towards flesh and blood.

Therefore, as both real body and puppet reached a new height of fighting power, he considered the fact that his Heaven Devouring Avatar could not reach its maximum power for now.

But because he had snatched a good amount of God’s Way Pills, he was not stingy with his riches. Even though maintaining the Unshackled Doppelganger was akin to burning money, it was a fire that Wu Yu was willing to upkeep. He basically raised them all to their peak state.

"You sicko. We were just on the edge of being able to catch up to you, and now you’ve left us far behind again. We can’t help you if you’re in trouble now." The Full Moon of Nanshan wagged his tongue.

"Don’t worry. I’ll be hard pressed to improve from hereon. Your chance to catch up, if you can take it." Wu Yu egged him.

After such drastic improvements, it would indeed be difficult to improve for a while.

"I can’t? That’s impossible. In short order, I’ll have you on the floor begging for mercy and calling me ‘father.’" The Full Moon of Nanshan chuckled.

"Stop bragging. 100 years and you still might not be able to catch up to my Big Brother Yu." Ye Xixi again sniped at him.

"You biased little girl! Your eyes are not good. I’m obviously 100 times more handsome than Old Wu, why would you be biased towards him?" The Full Moon of Nanshan was very angry.

Ye Xixi laughed. "That’s because pretty wrappings don’t hide the fact that you’re a jerk."

Prince Le and the others were watching them smilingly. Qu Haoyan and the others felt a little embarrassed to see the three so tight. However, it was indeed difficult for them to enter Wu Yu’s clique.

Ye Xixi was still working hard on the two seraphic dao treasures.

The Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat emerged from the swamp into the perennial blackness. There was not much to see. Perhaps nothing much had happened recently, and they had been missed by the Spirits of the Universe.

The Spirits of the Universe were fairly numerous in the Ancient Soul Tower. Just as Wu Yu moved the Imperial Insignia, he attracted another eight-headed snake.

However, he immediately incinerated it with his Eyes of Fire and Gold and then they left. After all, his blinding firelight could illuminate a considerable area. And there were many people hidden in the sixth level of the Ancient Soul Tower.

If the Yan Huang Golden Bead did not appear, they probably would follow suit.

Before too long, Wu Yu met another group of people.

It was Princess You Xue, King You Ying, and the others. They, too, had been at the sixth level of the Ancient Soul Tower recently.

During the last struggle at the fifth level, King You Ying had been unable to intervene.

However, they knew from Princess You Xue that Wu Yu had not died.

Although they did not know why Princess You Xue had been so sure, seeing Wu Yu whole before them convinced them.

"Wu Yu, congratulations. You really had a close shave that time...." King You Ying marveled.

He could not believe that Wu Yu had survived such a situation.

Wu Yu smiled at him a little frostily and then took out the Dark North Royal Obelisk as Princess You Xue neared. It immediately caught the attention of all the other princes and princesses.

"I fulfill my promise and return the Dark North Royal Obelisk to you." Wu Yu held the sword in both hands. A sword that he had wielded for a long time. A sword that had changed his destiny.

"Thank you. It is not a returning. It is a gift." Princess You Xue’s hands trembled as she took hold of the Dark North Royal Obelisk. She needed such an elite advanced dao treasure at this time. Besides, this had been personally used by the Dark Sea Emperor before.

"The other thing that I promised you. I will fulfill it next time."

Wu Yu was referring to returning her her freedom.

"I don’t mind. I don’t believe that you will let me die. And I also believe that you will not die."

Princess You Xue looked at him with her liquid, dark eyes, filled with trust and sincerity. She was a little infatuated with Wu Yu, but she knew that it was hard to press the issue.

"Mm."

Wu Yu exchanged information with her briefly. Basically, the Yan Huang Golden Bead had not been seen after they had arrived. Many were searching for it within the darkness. For now, there were no happenings, but the darkness of the sixth level might well be concealing virtually all the experts.

"Do you think the Yan Huang Golden Bead is at the sixth level?” King You Ying asked.

Wu Yu shook his head. "Not necessarily. I wager there’s a chance of it being at any level. Therefore, I’ve decided to go up to the seventh level for a look, perhaps even the eighth. I heard that no one has gone up to the ninth level yet. Who knows what is up there."

"I’ve only been to the seventh level before. Those there are basically all seventh tier Dao Querying cultivators. People are few, but it’s difficult for the group I’m leading to deal with them. Therefore, we decided not to go up. Are you certain you will go to the seventh level? Indeed, no one has gone up to the ninth level yet, but it’s basically impossible...."

King You Ying had no idea how strong Wu Yu was.

Therefore, he had taken Wu Yu’s mention of the ninth level as a mere hypothetical situation.

While everyone was searching the sixth level, Wu Yu instead wished to go to the deserted ninth level to see.

At the start, everyone had charged up, sure that the Yan Huang Golden Bead would be at the ninth level. After it appeared at every single level, no one eyed the ninth level anymore. But now that everyone was buzzing around like headless houseflies, Wu Yu’s interest in the ninth level instead began to grow.

King You Ying did not dare to go up further.

He also felt that the Yan Huang Golden Bead was most likely at the sixth level of the Ancient Soul Tower.

Therefore, the two split again after meeting. Princess You Xue was a little reluctant, but she knew that Wu Yu could contact her at any time. Suddenly, she was not that hard up about getting the Soul Manipulation Blood Design being removed.

"Up to the seventh level of the Ancient Soul Tower?" Prince Le now knew of Wu Yu’s decision.

"That’s right."

"Isn’t it most likely to be at the sixth level?"

"From past experience, it has created a huge stir each time. If it really appears again, it won’t be too late for us to come down then. But I am bothered by the remaining three levels of the Ancient Soul Tower. Especially the ninth level. Sometimes I wonder - perhaps obtaining the Yan Huang Golden Bead is not as easy as snatching it? Remember that the Ancient Emperor said that the Yan Huang Golden Bead has to be ‘truly obtained.’ He emphasized the word ‘truly.’”

"Good point." Prince Le had been convinced by Wu Yu. Of course, faced with Wu Yu now, he did not have much of an opinion.

Everyone headed upwards on the Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat. The problem of transiting from the sixth to seventh level of the Ancient Soul Tower was that all was darkness. However, Wu Yu had learned how to proceed from King You Ying. When they got higher, they would meet a dark storm with frigid air. It would tear people to pieces, leaving them no place to hide. One had to power through, and it would be fairly difficult. Besides, one would be robbed of vision, assaulted by frigid winds in complete darkness.

The Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat ascended silently. Wu Yu seemed to be floating in the sea of darkness, unable to distinguish one direction from another.

The inside of the Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat was very peaceful. Prince Le and the other three were looking about them anxiously. Perhaps they assumed that Wu Yu’s current strength would not be enough to get them to the seventh level.

However, even Wu Yu did not expect his Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat to suddenly be obstructed, just as he was preparing to tackle the freezing winds. The entire Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat seemed to have run headlong into an iron wall in the sky, and resounded with a huge bang. The interior rattled violently.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Wu Yu was puzzled, because there should be no obstacle here. He emerged from the Imperial Insignia and realized that this place was suddenly bright. His vision was normal, but the normalized area was not large. It was a sphere, and Wu Yu was currently at the tip of it.

He had banged into the wall of this sphere.

The walls of this sphere were all dark, but they had a faint glimmer of light that allowed one to see the perimeter of the sphere. Wu Yu realized that he had entered some sort of spirit design.

As he was puzzling this one out, a black pillar appeared in the center of the sphere. The black pillar was one zhang tall and one chi wide. It was plain black, with no patterns. It was completely merged into the darkness.

But Wu Yu knew that it had to be related to this spherical space, perhaps even originating from it. Wu Yu knew that this black pillar had trapped him.

This seemed like a different space.

Around this pillar, there was another sphere that seemed to protect it, just like the outer-most wall of light. Wu Yu was sure that he could not easily reach the black pillar.

He was not that worried, because he wanted to see who would be ambushing others here, and trapping him in balls.

Just as he thought this, a voice came from the side. "We hooked someone! Should be Yan Huang Tribe!"

"Quick, take a look! Who is it?"

Only Wu Yu, the Tortoise Shield Dragon Boat, and the people speaking were in the sphere. After they spoke, Wu Yu saw dozens of people appear outside the walls. They looked at Wu Yu as if he was a snagged prey.

Wu Yu saw that they were demons. But there were very many of them, with some ghostly cultivators in the mix as well. Such a trap was superb, and it was probably a seraphic dao treasure.

"Wu Yu!"

An alarmed shout. Looking up, he saw Nangong Wei in the mix.

However, her entire Nanyin Demon Continent contingent was not considered strong in this party of dozens. They were even considered below average.

They seemed to be hunting.