"Master Cui, are you really going to the Plain of Desires?"

Outside the Vanguard Regiment base.

Hong Du had a regretful and worried look. He regretted his failure in getting this weaponsmith to stay. He worried that they would not have anyone else to repair their weapons in the future if this weaponsmith ended up dying.

"Yes." Su Yu smiled, "It's not a big deal. I'm only going there to gather some materials."

"Do you want me to send some other people to gather those materials for you? You can just stay here and relax."

"You guys?" Su Yu said, "Forget it. You guys are only good for killing. I checked. The materials I need can be found at the Plain of Desires."

"Master Cui, that place is really very dangerous right now." Hong Du warned yet again, "Just last night, we received words from our scouts that a few individuals in the Yellow Index have died during the past few days. And your name is now in the Yellow Index as well."

"I made it into the Yellow Index?"

Hong Du thought that this fellow was finally scared. He hurriedly said, "Yeah. Someone listed you in the Yellow Index. You are occupying the last place in the index."

"How dare they look down on me!"

Su Yu instantly turned furious, stunning Hong Du. Wait...was this guy happy to be on the list?

Su Yu smiled again, "Last place...got it. See you."

He turned and left without any hesitation. Ahead of him was the massive Eastrift Valley. Surrounding the valley was the Eastrift Mountain Range. After crossing the valley, he would officially leave the human territory.

"Master Cui..."

Hong Du could only watch helplessly. Why was a damn weaponsmith going to a place like that? Was he trying to court death? Did he think that he was very impressive as an early Cloudbreach? Those genius Skysoars could easily skip a level and kill early Cloudbreaches.

A short while later, Deputy General Cao appeared.

Hong Du hurriedly said, "Deputy General Cao, he refused to listen and left without hesitation. I couldn't persuade him against it."

Deputy General Cao nodded. He stared in the direction Su Yu had left. After a short while, he said, "Let him be. I didn't see any fear or worry on his face. In fact, he seemed eager. Perhaps there is a reason for that confidence."

He moved on from the topic and said, "Have the army stay combat-ready. Do not let any enemy past the Eastrift Valley."

With his order, one expert after another flew out of the base and moved toward their respective positions.

They would likely face a major battle soon. The Plain of Desires was slowly being engulfed in chaos. The young geniuses of the myriad races had been dying non-stop. Some of their dao protectors had been going crazy trying to avenge their young lords.

Things were getting more and more chaotic over there. Thus, it was imperative that the Vanguard Regiment stay on alert and prevent any of these enemies from entering the human territory.

***

At the moment, Su Yu looked completely relaxed and carefree.

He had finally left the human territory. He always felt suppressed in the human territory as he wouldn't dare to use all his strength there. And some of the people he wanted to kill still couldn't be killed.

But after crossing the Eastrift Valley, he was free to kill anyone he wanted. As long as it was someone he didn't know, everyone was free for the taking. And there might not even be any consequences for killing those people. This was the hunting ground of geniuses.

It wouldn't be surprising for anyone to die. A massive mountain range stood before him. After going across the mountain range, he would reach the Plain of Desires.

While he was flying, a figure streaked past not far ahead of him. He ignored that figure. But a moment later, the figure stopped and returned. A young man appeared and asked with an odd expression, "Great Ming's Cui Lang?"

Su Yu looked at the newcomer. That wasn't someone he knew. He nodded.

"You dare to come here even when you're only a weaponsmith? Are you courting death?"

The youth shook his head and said, "Just go back while you can. Take it easy. The Plain of Desires has been very chaotic for the past few days. Even Huang Teng of Great Xia has been running all over the place trying to escape his pursuers. Great Xia's Wu Qi was nearly killed not long ago. You're only a weaponsmith and a fresh Cloudbreach. What are you doing here?"

Su Yu's heart skipped a beat. He asked, "Huang Teng and Wu Qi? They're quite strong. They're here as well? And they're under pursuit?"

"Yeah. Back then, Wu Qi bit a devil genius to death for her advancement into the Skysoar Realm. That fellow's elder brother is here with some other people to take revenge on her. They already fought several battles in the Plain of Desires."

The youth said, "I'm going over to check things out as well. Cui Lang, leave while you still can. I'm in a rush so I'll be leaving first."

With a flicker, the youth vanished.

Su Yu shouted, "May I know your name?"

"Great Song's Song Yi."

Su Yu said nothing else. He knew this name. This was a genius from Great Song, also someone in the Heavenly Hunt Index. Evidently, he was heading to the Plain of Desires to join the fun as well.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Wu Qi? Huang Teng?"

Su Yu was quite surprised to hear of those two right after arriving here. When he was in Great Xia, he had heard Huang Teng's name countless times. That fellow was also the first-ranked genius in the Earth Index.

But someone like that was actually forced to run for his life here. This place sure was dangerous. Even with his current strength, Su Yu still wasn't confident he could defeat Huang Teng. Of course, he didn't think that he would lose as well. Nothing was for certain before they actually fought.

He continued flying ahead. After dozens of kilometers, he finally crossed the mountain range. A new scenery unfolded before his eyes.

Beyond the Eastrift Mountain Range was a boundless plain. The silhouettes of some cities or towns could even be seen in the distance. Su Yu wondered what manner of people inhabited these cities.

He did have a map, but the map did not have a detailed introduction to these cities. Hong Du only gave him a short reminder that some of these cities were places where he could rest. He could enter these cities to hide when encountering danger, but these cities were also extremely dangerous. This, it was advisable to not enter unless necessary.

"Plain of Desires!"

Su Yu spread his senses around. The ambient source qi was very dense here. This place was a much better cultivation location than the Human Realm.

"Here, I'm no longer in the human territory."

While he was thinking, a massive flying beast approached him from afar. A person clad in red armor was seated atop the flying beast. That individual proceeded to scan Su Yu with his willpower openly.

Su Yu frowned. The armored person spoke using the common language, "A human? First time here? Little human brat, you've been drafted. From now onward, you are a captive of the Heavendoom City."

Su Yu blanked out. What was going on? Did he become a captive right after leaving? This fellow wasn't weak at all. He was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. His mount was also a Cloudbreach.

Su Yu was more curious than worried. He said, "Heavendoom City? I read about it before. It is located on the west of the Plain of Desires near the central sector. You guys are here just to catch some people?"

The armored individual coldly said, "Kid, did the experts of your race never teach you that you need to respect those stronger than you here? Not even the human Eternals can get involved in the affairs here. You are now my captive. Get over here."

Su Yu had a lot of questions. He had heard of the Heavendoom City. But why was this fellow catching someone right at their first meeting?

"Why do you need captives?"

"Are you courting death?"

The armored individual had barely spoken those words when Su Yu vanished and a hammer descended from above. With a loud rumble, the armored individual vanished while his mount was stunned by the hammer strike.

The mount was sent crashing onto the ground.

Not far away, the armored individual shouted with alarm, "Audacious!"

But he had to admit that this human was very strong.

After sending the flying beast to the ground with one hit, Su Yu looked at the armored individual and asked doubtfully, "Which race are you from? You sure are fast when it comes to running."

"You're too arrogant." The armored individual vanished after that shout. Su Yu stepped back forcefully, leaving cracks in the ground beneath him.

After taking a few steps back, he felt a sense of crisis. He hurriedly moved his head to the side. Instantly, a sharp object moved past his ear. A formidable corrosive power could be felt from the object.

The armored individual vanished again. Immediately after, Su Yu started feeling light-headed. That attack was poisonous!

Holy shit!

Did he encounter an expert right after arriving? No, was it possible that everyone here was an expert? That armored fellow felt quite impressive. Was he a warrior? He sure had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Su Yu lifted his large hammer and started swinging it wildly. With a rumble, the armored individual was smashed out of hiding.

With the Perception Jade, that armored individual wasn't able to fully hide from him. Su Yu was just about to follow up with a stronger attack when his vision swam. An illusion!

"A cultural researcher?"

Su Yu was alarmed. He met a cultural researcher right after arriving? His blood character activated and broke the illusion used on him.

"Huh?"

The armored individual was greatly shocked. His illusion was broken so easily? He made the choice to leave unhesitatingly. It wasn't that he thought he wouldn't win. But there was no need to waste his time fighting an expert lest someone else swept in and reap the harvest.

Initially, he thought that this human was pretty ordinary in terms of strength. But that human was surprisingly strong. The armored individual was not interested in fighting someone to the death for no reason.

As for Su Yu, he frowned. He was about to give chase when his Perception Jade started blinking. Sensing that, he cursed and left rapidly as well.

***

A short while later.

Su Yu reappeared somewhere else and cursed, "Am I so weak?"

He had just arrived but he was already met with a small setback. That opponent was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach, but he was unable to gain an upper hand during their short confrontation. In fact, that armored individual was the one with the upper hand. Was he too weak?

Was everyone in the Allheaven Battlefield so powerful?

***

At the same time.

Not far from Su Yu, a group of people were resting beside a river. The armored individual appeared with a flicker. A few of the people there were also clad in armor of similar design. One of them noticed him and laughed, "Red Armor, where did you run off to? Did you enjoy yourself? Where's your mount?"

"I lost it." The armored individual grumbled, "I met a human expert. What rotten luck."

"A Mountainsea?" His companion said, "You should be happy to escape a Mountainsea unharmed."

"No." The armored individual shook his head, "Only a Cloudbreach. And it's not Huang Teng or the other popular humans. The human race sure has a lot of geniuses. I've never heard of that fellow. But he was able to stun me with a single hammer strike."

"Hammer?"

The others looked at each other doubtfully. They had never heard of a hammer-wielding genius. As for Cui Lang who was ranked last in the Yellow Index, he was only a weaponsmith. Thus, none of them suspected that Cui Lang was the so-called human expert.

Su Yu thought that he was weak and unlucky. But this individual called Red Armor also felt like he was too unlucky. He was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. A genius in the Profound Index. Someone who had killed ninth-stage Cloudbreaches and fought Mountainseas before. He was capable of either killing or escaping safely from early Mountainseas. But a Cloudbreach was actually able to force him to retreat. He was feeling very gloomy.

"Red Armor, do you need our help?"

"No." Red Armor rejected the offer, "Ignore that fellow. He's not our current target. Instead, it's that young dragon. Dragons are the best mounts you can have. That young dragon is near the Mountainsea Realm. If we can catch him, we'll gain a Mountainsea dragon mount before long."

"We don't have enough people for that. The dragons are born powerful. And that fellow is a golden dragon, a race that is second only to the heavenly dragon race. That won't be an easy opponent."

Red Armor nodded. If that opponent was so easy to defeat, they wouldn't have been forced to do things in such a troublesome manner. He had been trying to get a few captives to use as bait against the young dragon.

"It's fine. We only need to catch some fellows to use as bait. That young dragon has only left the Dragon Realm for a short while. We can probably deal with him with poison."

As for Su Yu, that human was not weak at all. Thus, Red Armor decided to give up lest the damn human ended up ruining his plan. He wasn't too bothered about their previous encounter.

In the Plain of Desires, a battle was no big deal if one was able to escape without any losses. After the battle, everyone would simply return to minding their own business.

***

The encounter was no big deal to Red Armor. But it was a very big deal for Su Yu. He was feeling extremely gloomy.

Holy shit!

He had received a beating right after arriving. He had not suffered any losses, but that fellow had swaggered off after hitting him. This was not something he could swallow. He didn't even have the chance to use his real strength before the battle ended.

"Armored guy...you're dead!"

Su Yu gnashed his teeth. He was a very petty person. He would not forget that grievance anytime soon. Nobody would be able to save that person. His good mood had been ruined by that armored bastard.

"Furball, trace the scent of that fellow."

The little furball, who was enjoying his sleep, woke up. He yawned in confusion. He had been quite free recently so he had been sleeping a lot.

When he heard Su Yu's words, his tiny nose moved for a bit. He then said, "To the left. His scent is still in the air."

Su Yu wasted no time and transformed into the wind.

That fellow was dead!

His first encounter in the Plain of Desires was an unfavorable one. He wouldn't be able to restore his mood before dealing with that armored bastard.