Chapter 851: A Good Start (1)

Glittering stars littered the dark sky above.

Su Yu rode forward on his earthdragon without a destination in mind.

It wasn't like he was completely aimless. He only knew that he could only encounter powerful opponents after stepping out of the area under humanity's control. Inside the human territory, it would be hard for him to encounter such experts.

The true battlefield would begin beyond the Vanguard Regiment.

The Eastpart City was very far away from the Vanguard Regiment. In fact, there was a distance of over three thousand kilometers between them. With such a big distance, any enemy expert wouldn't be able to instantly reach the headquarters of humanity after crossing the frontlines.

In fact, there were numerous defensive lines between the frontlines and the headquarters. Then again, the eastern sector was too large for the forces of humanity to effectively control. Thus, there were still some danger zones inside the sector.

"Where is the mountainbreak bull territory?"

Su Yu took out a map produced by Great Ming and noted that the mountainbreak bull territory was located to the northeast. This was not a weak race. It was also a top-100 race. Perhaps their territory would be a good place for him to test his strength.

That place was also not far away from Great Xia's territory. The Allheaven Battlefield was massive and sparsely populated. But the scenery there was actually quite good.

The starry sky was splendid and magnificent. According to the legends, the stars in the sky were actually the nodes of an ultra formation covering the entirety of the Allheaven Battlefield meant to eliminate all suppressive force on the battlefield.

That way, the myriad races were able to freely move in the Allheaven Battlefield without worrying about the suppressive force. It was rumored that some Invincibles tried verifying these legends before, but even after flying for a long time, they couldn't reach the end of the sky.

It was likely that those stars did not even exist in the same plane of existence. Perhaps the entire sky itself was a massive formation created by some ancient experts.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Of course, that was none of Su Yu's business. His current level was still too low to be concerned about such affairs. It was better to let those Invincibles worry about those legends instead.

Since he was still traveling within the human-controlled territory, there was no need for him to shift to a different identity. In any case, he had yet to decide on his new identity. The identity he assumed must belong to someone strong.

It would be even better if that was someone who could make an attempt at dao affirmation in the near future without incurring any suspicion. After all, that someone would still be a Cloudbreach now. And perhaps the attempt would be made as soon as a few years in the future. Thus, Su Yu needed to be very picky when picking a new identity.

But he was in no rush. Cui Lang's identity was still usable for now. No matter what, Cui Lang was officially a Cloudbreach. It wouldn't be out of place for someone like this to possess a considerable level of combat strength.

***

Along the way, Su Yu even saw some buildings and towns. All these buildings and towns belonged to humans. After spending the majority of their lives here in the Allheaven Battlefield, it was inevitable for some soldiers to get married and give birth to their children here as well. As these communities grew, villages and small towns started forming in the human-controlled territory.

Some soldiers had spent so many years here that they were no longer willing to return to the Human Realm even in retirement. Many years ago, there was one such family here. This family was surnamed Liu.

This was a large and influential family based on the Allheaven Battlefield. Due to repeated attacks, the Liu Family eventually went extinct. A large family that was once protected by even Sunmoons had fully declined, with the Liu City they founded returning to nature.

In the Allheaven Battlefield, regardless of whether it was a town or a small village, it would be filled with a large number of combat-ready soldiers. Some of them were veterans who had lived in the Allheaven Battlefield for over a hundred years.

After over three hundred years of human control, a unique ecosystem had taken form in this territory.

Some of the people living here would take orders from the armies stationed near them. Some would take orders from some local large families. Some would stay completely independent and would not take any orders unless these orders came from Invincibles.

This was a place of freedom. But it was also a place of danger.

Even people like Great Qin King would not pay too much attention to these people. Since these people were not paying taxes to the existing human governments, they would need to solve their issues themselves. Of course, they were still allowed to trade with the official military of the Human Realm. They could even make a living killing enemies for merit points from the military.

One could say that this was a second human civilization independent from the existing human civilization in the Human Realm.

Unlike the divines, devils, immortals, and demonic beasts, humans had great reproductive abilities. Thus, they were able to form a relatively strong defensive and social system in the eastern sector. They were also actively clearing more lands for development and expansion.

This was one of the reasons the myriad races were wary of the human race. If they were given a few more centuries, they might be able to spread all over the Allheaven Battlefield, building all their little houses and cities right beside the entrances to the various realms.

Su Yu rode on leisurely, stopping every now and then to look around. He was in no rush. Being too rash here was the easiest way for one to lose one's life. Thus, he took great care to observe and familiarize himself with the environment here.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

Suddenly, the sounds of galloping horses rang out. Not far ahead of him, a group of soldiers were heading in his direction. In the air, a flying beast was carrying an individual. And mounted atop the flying beast was another individual who was shouting, "Make way, make way! The reconnaissance team is returning to the headquarters for official military business!"

Su Yu hurriedly moved out of the way. This was a reconnaissance team from the frontlines. These teams were in charge of scouting the enemies and battlefield before sending the information back. Voice transmission talismans wouldn't be reliable all the time. At such times, these teams would be required to break through the enemy lines before returning to the headquarters with their gathered information.

A red emblem could be seen on all the running beasts and the flying beast. This emblem signified that they were carrying some urgent information. Everyone was required to make way when encountering soldiers with this emblem.

The military official atop the flying beast was a Cloudbreach. He suddenly looked at Su Yu and said, "A cultural researcher? Retreat to the headquarters. The Vanguard Regiment is currently in combat with the demonic beasts. A battle between Mountainseas has erupted. Retreat!"

"Mountainseas? Demonic beasts?"

Su Yu was stunned. A battle broke out?

How energetic. He hurriedly replied, "Got it. Thanks for the reminder, Sir."

The official had merely given a reminder instead of an order. When he saw that Su Yu was not turning back, he said nothing and continued onward. It was honestly none of his business. He had merely offered the warning because this person was a cultural researcher.

A Cloudbreach cultural researcher who was so young was totally worth protecting. But since the cultural researcher was not willing to retreat, he wouldn't force the issue. Before long, the team of ten soldiers vanished in the distance. They were moving at a rapid speed.

Every single member of a reconnaissance team was an elite in the military. No weakling would be accepted into these reconnaissance teams.

This team, in particular, consisted of one Cloudbreach and nine Skysoars. This was the most common composition of small, elite teams in the Allheaven Battlefield. These were the teams that would be deployed for missions too dangerous for the regular soldiers.

***

Since Su Yu was still quite far away from the Vanguard Regiment, he wasn't too worried. As he traveled, he encountered more people. Some were lone travelers on their way to the frontlines. Some were adventures, and some were groups known as vultures. These so-called vultures were hated by humanity and the other races. And vultures existed in all races.

Strictly speaking, they couldn't be considered bad guys. But they were most definitely not the good guys either. Most of the time, these people would go to the frontlines but not participate in any battles. Rather, they would wait until the battle was over before entering the war zone to search for anything valuable. They did not have the courage to enter the main battlefield. Instead, they would be entering the smaller battlefields around the main battlefield.

The less unruly vultures would only set their eyes on the valuable items of the losing party and leave the victors alone. The more unruly vultures would take from both sides. Of course, these vultures would also suffer a miserable ending upon capture.

The Allheaven Battlefield might be a lawless place, but there were unwritten rules there. For example, these vultures should only collect some spoils from the losers in some minor battlefields. As long as they did not behave too excessively, the major armies would turn a blind eye to them. That was because these vultures could be useful to them at times.

Also, not all corpses on a battlefield would be actual corpses. Some were merely people who were faking their deaths. Thus, vultures also needed to have a keen eye when searching the battlefield. Sudden attacks by people pretending to be dead weren't rare, so this was actually a very dangerous job with a high mortality rate.

At times, these vultures would even enter the battlefield in advance and attack the losers to ensure they could collect their spoils before the victors could collect anything. Naturally, some vultures were reckless enough to even attack the victors. And understandably, these vultures would not be spared if their action was exposed.

Prior to this, Su Yu was unaware of all this. But during the past few days, he had learned a bit about these vultures through all the reading he had done.

It was very easy to recognize these vulture groups. They would dress shabbily, and they would not wear any military uniforms. It wasn't that they couldn't afford better clothing, but they simply didn't want to set themselves up as targets by dressing too lavishly.

They weren't weak, but they also wouldn't be too strong as the truly strong ones would not be bothered to do something like looting the dead. They were also extremely cautious, with between thirty to fifty members per group. Of course, there were also smaller groups with three to five members or even lone travelers. These people could be found among all races. In short, these were the people making a living looting the dead.

At the moment, there was a group of about a dozen vultures heading in the direction of the Vanguard Regiment. They moved at a similar speed as Su Yu, but they were all traveling on foot. They maintained a distance of around five hundred meters behind Su Yu.

After a while, Su Yu turned around and scolded, "Why are damn vultures like you following me? Are you waiting for me to die so that you can loot my body?"

The leader of the group was an old man. He cupped his hands and grinned, revealing his yellow teeth, and said, "Lord Cultural Researcher, you misunderstood us. We're worried that there might be danger ahead of us. Meanwhile, you are so mighty that all enemies will retreat at the sight of you. If you find us an eyesore, we will naturally be willing to pick a different route."