Chapter 997: Source Qi Nine Transformations, Underwater Topsoil (2)

"Just how much will the transformation change my source qi?"

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Su Yu was unsure. More importantly...

He had 360 acupoints! But only 144 of his acupoints were undergoing the first transformation. What was he supposed to do with the rest? After the transformation, was he a first-stage Cloudbreach or a Skysoar in physical cultivation?

Su Yu was feeling quite troubled. He would grow stronger, but that might also lead to an imbalance between his acupoints and a drop of control over his own strength. That would be very troublesome. To avoid this, he had to transform all his acupoints.

"More importantly, my 144 acupoints are using Prefect Xia's saber qi for the first transformation. If I want to transform my other acupoints as well, I need to look for treasures of a similar level as the base if I want to maintain the balance between my acupoints..."

Su Yu felt like coughing blood. Holy shit! In that case, did he need to find something as powerful as Xia Longwu's saber qi to act as the base? Wasn’t Xia Longwu basically a pseudo Invincible already? So if he wanted to open the acupoints he opened through the cultivation method of the divines, he had to absorb the power of a pseudo Invincible divine?

And the same for his devil acupoints? He had 360 acupoints, and he had opened them through the cultivation methods of almost all the major races. Was he supposed to absorb the power of so many pseudo Invincibles? Was that a joke?

Of course, he had another option if he wanted to keep his balance: give up on the transformation.

That was always an option. But could he do so? He wasn't willing to do so. He felt like his source qi would be a lot stronger after the transformation. Would he still be a genius if he didn't cultivate the best cultivation methods, forge his body as many times as he could, and undergo the strongest transformation possible for his source qi?

"Whatever. I'll worry about it in the future."

There was no rush. He had yet to even complete the transformation. It wasn't like he would have no way of remedying the imbalance after the transformation. First, he had to see just how much stronger the 144 acupoints would grow after the transformation. If the growth was small, there wouldn't be any need to worry about finding treasures of similar level to serve as the base for his other acupoints.

Su Yu stopped worrying and continued his absorption of Xia Longwu's saber qi. Slowly, the source qi in his 144 acupoints grew. The process continued. And as time passed, Su Yu started getting the feeling that his source qi was about to break out of a cocoon and undergo rebirth. That signified that the transformation was on the verge of completion.

Su Yu was still grumbling inwardly. He had yet to even complete his body forging. Why was his source qi transforming already? Also, why were only 144 acupoints transforming? Why leave out the rest? Was this a prank?

Also, was this an indication that he could actually work on both body forging and source qi transformation at the same time? In that case, would he reach the ninth-stage Cloudbreach Realm the moment he completed his body forging?

And he only needed to focus on acupoint fusion to enter the Mountainsea Realm after that? Su Yu sank into thought.

That could very well be the case. In that case, the boundary between realms would be blurred for him. He could be both a Skysoar and a Cloudbreach at the same time, instantly reaching the final stage of the Cloudbreach Realm upon completing his cultivation of the two realms.

"More importantly, I need to transform the source qi of all 360 acupoints. Otherwise, with 144 of them being stronger than the rest, even acupoint fusion will be impossible."

In fact, even in his current state, the semi-transformed acupoints were already giving him trouble. He had fused his 360 acupoints into 9, allocating 40 basic acupoints to each fused acupoint.

As for the 144 semi-transformed acupoints, they weren't split evenly among his fused acupoints. Thus, he was feeling a strong sense of imbalance.

"I'm only here to strengthen my body..."

Su Yu felt more and more helpless.

But it also seemed like he was complaining even after gaining such a huge advantage. Then again, this was how things were for geniuses. Often, opportunities would simply fall into their laps out of nowhere.

He had never intended to start his transformation so soon yet it happened. Could he be blamed for this? He had no choice but to blame his talent. He was so talented that his cultivation seemed to be rushing forward without his control. He couldn't stop progressing even if he wanted to.

After spending a long time, he was finally done absorbing all the saber qi in the corpse. His 144 acupoints had grown much stronger than before. The transformation had yet to reach completion, but he could feel that these acupoints had grown at least 10 percent stronger. How strong would they be after the transformation?

Naturally, only the 144 acupoints had grown. The rest had remained at the same level of strength. All his acupoints had also been strengthened by his body forgings. With this semi-transformation, he felt as though the 144 acupoints had completed the 28th forging ahead of all the other acupoints.

Su Yu did not think too much about it. A growth of 10 percent was no big deal for him. He started reversing his source qi circulation. Death qi flooded his body as he started processing the corpse with it.

The corpse was extremely durable, and it even had a tiny amount of blood essence left. Thus, the processing was progressing very slowly. Su Yu could only remain patient as he worked on the corpse, paying special attention to the face to ensure nobody could recognize this corpse.

It would be awkward if some divine skywings recognized the corpse when he was trying to sell it off.

***

While Su Yu was working on the corpse with his death qi.

Deep underwater.

An ancient city could be seen. The submerged city was completely devoid of activity.

Su Yu did not notice the city as it was too deep underwater, but it was actually located directly below him. At that moment, a stone statue in the city abruptly opened his eyes. The stone statue looked up. Suns and moons swirled in his eyes as his gaze penetrated time and space to reach Su Yu.

"Death spirit..."

The statue in the form of a sea lion stared at Su Yu in astonishment. Was that a death spirit out in the wild? What was going on? Was this one of those sentient death spirits? Wait, this death spirit seemed a tad bit too intelligent.

Where did this death spirit find the corpse of an eighth-stage Sunmoon? And what was the death spirit doing to it? Death spirits...weren't supposed to be able to leave ancient cities. How did this death spirit leave the city?

The stone statue remained confused for a while. Perhaps it was because he had not awakened for too many years. It took some time for the haze in his mind to be fully cleared. Finally, the eyes of the stone statue turned cold.

Death spirit!

His eyes shone as he prepared to attack and kill the loose death spirit. Right at that moment, Su Yu's tribulation character pulsed madly. He was surprised. What was going on? At the same time, the miniature person in Su Yu's heart opened his eyes.

Holy shit!

What the hell was happening?

The miniature man was able to instantly determine what was happening. With a furious curse, he started walking through time and space to reach the bottom of the sea with Su Yu none the wiser.

The miniature man did not take long to reach the main gate of the city. The stone statue instantly noted him.

"He's not a death spirit."

The miniature man spoke. The stone statue looked up again. Suns and moons spun in his eyes as time started rewinding. Before long, the sight of Su Yu's transformation into a death spirit appeared before him.

Finally, his gaze returned to the miniature person. With an extremely unique voice, he spoke slowly, "I can sense the aura of Heavendoom and Empyrean Cloud on him..."

"Yes. He visited their cities not long ago."

"He's...alive..."

The stone statue muttered to himself before looking at the miniature man with astonishment, "Is this your descendant?"

"No. I picked him up somewhere."

The stone statue asked with disbelief, "Someone like that can be picked up randomly?"

How many times had it been? Had the world changed so much that such talented individuals were everywhere now? Incredible!

"Grand cycle acupoints and Five Elemental Art...and also an ancient body forging method of the iron devourers...Is this how everyone cultivates nowadays?"

The stone statue had remained in slumber for too many years. There was no helping it. This was an underwater city. It was as good as a dead city. It had been submerged since the ancient times. Thus, the stone statue had remained in slumber all this while.

Over the years, some Invincibles might have noticed him while passing by. But none would bother to even start a conversation with him. These ancient cities were the last place any Invincible wanted to be.

The stone statue was confused. Had the world changed so much while he was in slumber? In the ancient times, very few people were capable of achieving grand cycle acupoints.

In fact, the rarity of such individuals was the reason why anyone succeeding in doing so would receive a congratulatory message from the ancient Emperor himself.

This was a treatment only accorded to the greatest of geniuses.

The miniature man asked doubtfully, "How long have you been asleep?"

"How long?" The stone statue blanked out. Suns and moons spun in his eyes again. After a long while, he muttered, "Too long. I think...the last time I met Heavendoom and the others...was eight thousand tides ago?"

He wasn't sure. That was merely a rough estimate. It was hard for him to make an accurate judgment since he had been asleep. Perhaps it was nine thousand tides instead? He had no idea.

"The next tide...is near." The stone statue murmured as he looked up again.

The miniature man finally understood what the statue was talking about. He said, "Next tide...are you referring to the opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion? In that case, you must have been asleep for eighty or ninety thousand years."

Each tide referred to an opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion. Since the mansion would open once every ten years, the statue had probably been in slumber for eighty or ninety thousand years.

It had indeed been a very long time. This was also the very first time the miniature man learned how old these ancient cities were. No, the ancient cities might even be older than that. This person was talking about his last meeting with the others. Perhaps the ancient cities had existed long before that as well.

He wanted to ask more, but the stone statue said, "I'm returning to sleep. Remind that human to avoid using death qi too much. For now, the death qi in his body is still weak. But when it grows strong enough, it might create a portal directly connected to the Death Realm. Without the suppression of a holy city, he will be directly exposed to the death spirits."

Then, the stone statue returned to slumber. The miniature man had no choice but to end the conversation and return. But he was left completely speechless when he returned to his previous spot. Su Yu had actually vanished somewhere with the corpse. His conversation with the stone statue hadn't even lasted that long.

That kid sure was fast at running. The kid had an impressively keen smell of danger. He had actually fled hundreds of kilometers away in such a short time. Fortunately, the miniature man had taken root in Su Yu's heart. He could still sense Su Yu despite the distance between them.

He started moving through time and space again. And soon, he caught up with Su Yu who had transformed into water. Noiselessly and tracelessly, he returned to Su Yu's heart.

***

As for Su Yu, he was still busy fleeing, completely oblivious to the miniature person. He only knew that his tribulation character was going crazy to warn him of an impending disaster. Thus, running was the only right thing to do.

He only stopped after moving hundreds of kilometers away. He reverted to his human form and gasped for breath. Holy shit. What was that?

The danger felt terrifyingly intense. It was so intense even his heart nearly stopped beating. That was horrifying. His tribulation character was pulsing so madly that he felt like it was going to shake itself apart.

"Invincible?"

Su Yu's heart was still beating heavily. That was most definitely an Invincible. Did an Invincible notice him earlier? And the Invincible even thought of making a move against him?

His senses wouldn't go so crazy if the Invincible merely noticed him. After all, he had been fine even when he was in the presence of three Invincibles. The tribulation character would remain calm if the Invincible did not harbor any malice toward him. Clearly, the Invincible earlier was thinking of killing him.

Holy shit!

Who was that?

Was that an enemy Invincible?

Why?

Also, why did the Invincible stop? Was he too fast for the Invincible? What a joke. He might still be able to run from Sunmoons, but there was nothing he could do to avoid an Invincible. All his disguises or tricks would be ineffective against Invincibles.

Of course, the premise for that was to have the Invincible actively examine him. Otherwise, not even an Invincible would notice his disguise with a casual glance. Thus, the previous Invincible must have paid close attention to him.

"Just who was it?"

Su Yu felt like crying. He survived, but he did not enjoy catching the attention of Invincibles. Most people might not be able to encounter even one Invincible in a lifetime. But for some reason, he had encountered quite a number of Invincibles. Back in the Human Realm, he had encountered at least three Invincibles.

Great Qing King had probably noticed him when he first entered the Allheaven Battlefield as well. He was unaware that he had also caught the gaze of Great Xia King, Great Ming King, the big furball, and several stone statues. Thus, he had actually encountered more than ten Invincibles thus far.

Su Yu waited for a bit and confirmed that his tribulation character was finally calm again. He sighed and decided to stop here. It wasn't like he could run any further. If the Invincible was still spying on him, there was nothing he could do.

Perhaps the corpse had caught the Invincible's attention. After all, that was the corpse of an eighth-stage Sunmoon. The corpse was still in his storage ring. He had successfully caused the face of the corpse to rot away with his death qi. He was also able to leave some dark spots on the corpse. But that was not enough. The corpse did not look ancient enough.

Su Yu was not done processing the corpse. But it didn't matter. He could continue his work later. And when he was done with that, he needed to find a suitable cesspit and bury the corpse in it for a few days.

Since it was an ancient corpse, it naturally needed to smell a tiny bit.But he was unsure if he could even find a cesspit out here. It was unlikely for him to find one here, but he was also willing to settle with burying the corpse in some mud instead.

It was clear he held zero reverence toward a Sunmoon from the divine race. He was almost done with the corpse. The ancient weapon, character, clothings, and everything else were more or else done as well.

Next, he had to start looking for an ancient spatial pocket on the verge of collapse. He could then lure a bunch of people to go on an exploration with him. Naturally, he needed a suitable disguise for that.

"Time to visit Ninestar Island. I need to capture a genius there. I heard Tianduo is there. The little golden dragon has been sighted there as well. Well, I guess I'll have to capture one of them. The Dragon Realm is too near so Tianduo will be the best target."

In truth, Topsoil Spirit was a good choice as well. But Su Yu had not heard any rumors of that fellow's arrival. Since that fellow was an earth elemental, it was unlikely for that person to come here. The geography here was simply too unsuitable for that fellow.

Su Yu wasn't too worried about it. He would plan further after capturing one of them. Otherwise, it would be hard for him to escape after carrying out the scam. He also had to keep his victim alive. Otherwise, the name of his victim would disappear from the index. That wouldn't do as he still needed to borrow the identity of his victim.

Killing his victim wouldn't be a good idea anyway since that might attract the attention of the Invincible behind his victim. Most of these geniuses were Invincible descendants.

***

While Su Yu was thinking about all that.

Ninestar Island.

A random hill on the island suddenly started shrinking, shocking the experts exploring the hill. Before they could react, golden spikes shot out of the ground and penetrated all their bodies.

Next, the hill transformed into an earth elemental. After killing so many people, a heavenly reward had appeared above Topsoil Spirit. Just as he was about to absorb his reward, his senses tingled. He looked around cautiously. Why was he feeling jittery all of a sudden? Was someone scheming against him?

Proper features slowly appeared on his initially blank face, revealing an odd expression. He had entered the Sea of Stars secretly. Whose attention did he catch even when he was being so secretive?

He felt a tiny sense of crisis. Whatever. He decided to move away instead of staying and worrying. Everyone knew he was an earth elemental. To deal with him, they would naturally try to do it on land. Thus, he was going to go underwater instead. Nobody would be able to guess that an earth elemental would actually go underwater, right?

As for the guesses Mo Duona made previously, it didn't matter. Nobody could be sure of his abilities as long as he admitted to nothing.

"I'm an earth elemental in water. I won't encounter anyone who's out for me underwater, right?"

As he comforted himself that way, he started flying in the direction of the sea. As of late, a lot of fortuitous encounters had appeared in the sea so this wouldn't be a bad thing for him. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to stumble upon a five elemental tree, right? That would be perfect for his source qi transformation.

The fellow who had discovered the ancient dragonblood tree not long ago was truly dumb for selling the tree. Topsoil Spirit grumbled that if he found something like that as well, he definitely wouldn't sell it. That was such a treasure.

Then again, if the price was actually tempting enough, he wouldn't mind selling it either. But the person who had discovered the ancient dragonblood tree had sold it for such a cheap price.

Those from minor races were truly pitiful. If he was the one with the tree, nobody would dare to force him to accept such a bad deal. After all, he also came from a race with Invincibles. And when the five elements were finally reunited, they would be able to gather more than a dozen Invincibles.

Unfortunately, the five elements had yet to reunite. Nevertheless, Topsoil Spirit was still confident that he wouldn't be bullied thanks to his background.

Just look at what happened previously when he was trapped in the ancient city. An Invincible from his race arrived. That was not a treatment any random Invincible descendant could get. For example, Tianduo had been completely ignored by the Invincible of his race despite being an original devil. Luckily for him, Mo Duona was in the city as well.

After knowing that an Invincible was willing to move for him, the experts of the various races would exercise more restraint when dealing with him.

Of course, that did not apply to other young geniuses. There was no need for them to hold back against him. A genius must face other geniuses to grow. And a genius who was killed by a different genius would be reduced to someone unworthy of further support from their race.

If one couldn't even prevail over those from the same generation, how could one even be called a genius? No race would entrust its fate to such a person. When Topsoil Spirit reached the sea, he turned into a water elemental and vanished into the water.

Time to flee!

It was too dangerous to stay on land.

It was very likely that his old nemesis, the stone golem had arrived. That bastard was too strong on land, but that would change completely in water.