Tribulation of Myriad Races-Chapter 1417: Death Follows (3)

"So this is the second level?"

After killing his welcoming party, Su Yu started looking around. The second level was different from the first level. Or to be precise, it was very different. The second level felt like a world of flame. Fire and lava filled the level.

Yellow Nine said, "The second level is known as the Flame Mountain. In the legends, a blood fire devil and fire elemental had battled here during the ancient past. This world was the aftermath of their battle."

Su Yu laughed and said, "The so-called lava here is merely the blood vessels on the neck. Why do you believe in such fairy tales?"

What nonsense was that? Unlike the first level, the second level did not resemble anything on a human body. This was indeed a world of flame. But equipped with the knowledge he had gained from the first level, Su Yu was able to easily determine that the rivers of lava were essentially the blood vessels on someone's neck.

Yellow Nine did not argue. If Su Yu's theory were correct, this could indeed be the neck. However, the thought of that was still so ridiculous she did not dare to even entertain it.

That would be a fact far more terrifying than the legends about this place.

If Su Yu was right, it could only mean that an incomparably powerful ancient expert had been killed by the Human Emperor before being slammed head-first into the ground. The hair of that ancient expert had stabbed right into the Death Realm while the rest of his body had been forged into a mansion.

Of course, Su Yu's group still knew nothing about the hair of this supposedly ancient expert.

Su Yu was deep in thought.

First level. Source Opening.

Second level, Great Strength.

The Great Strength Realm was a rather simple realm. In this realm, one only needed to open enough acupoints for advancement.

After opening enough acupoints, one could temper one's body with blood essence. That was essentially what one needed to do at the Great Strength Realm. Was there any connection between the second level and the Great Strength Realm?

As far as Su Yu was concerned, when treasure hunting, he had to hunt for truly valuable treasures. He was in no rush. The obvious treasures would have been harvested long ago. He would need to look for the less obvious treasures.

"Tai Shan!"

He opened his shut acupoint and shouted casually. He even made sure that Xia Huyou and the others did not hear him.

Immediately after...

Boom!

Flame raged and lava erupted. The furious Old Zhou roared, "Where is Tai Shan!"

"Where are you?"

Learning that Tai Shan had reached the second level, Old Zhou's fury grew even more intense.

It felt as though the world was ending.

A storm of flame raged.

When Su Yu saw the erupting lava, he understood that Old Zhou was so furious even his blood vessels were bursting.

Was Tai Shan on his neck?

Was Tai Shan riding on his neck?

That was probably the conclusion Old Zhou had reached. Su Yu understood that all remnant wills would be quite stupid. Apart from clinging onto their obsession, these remnant wills were incapable of articulating any flexible thought.

Not far away, a wailing individual soared into the sky only to be instantly set aflame and reduced to ashes.

Once again, Xia Huyou and the others stared at Su Yu. Xia Huyou couldn't help but swallow and said, "This...our people are here as well. Su Yu..."

He was killing indiscriminately!

Su Yu smiled, "This has nothing to do with me. This is merely a natural disaster."

As for the humans that might be on the second level...

Were his teacher and the others here? He doubted that there would be too many humans here.

His reasoning was simple. Most of the people from the first level had escaped here. Naturally, their arrival would squeeze the humans out. In such a situation, most of the humans here would group up before fleeing to the next level. Those who would still remain would not be so weak that they could die so easily. In any case, he was not their nanny. Why should he think about them all the time?

At the moment, Su Yu was in a great mood. He had verified that calling Tai Shan's name would still be effective here. Very good. With Old Zhou raging yet again, more people would die, right?

"Wait, this is such a waste!"

Suddenly, Su Yu thought of something. He couldn't do this anymore. What was he supposed to feed his book with if Old Zhou killed everyone? He was still counting on the cultural researchers here to complete his missing apertures. For him, the treasures on the second level were not as important as the corpses he could collect here.

Su Yu had killed seven people right after arriving. With a shout from him, over twenty unlucky souls perished to Old Zhou's anger. With that, the number of people in the mansion finally dropped below three thousand.

***

Second level.

Somewhere amid a flaming region.

With characters swirling above his palm, he sighed and said, "Let's go to the third level. The crisis has arrived at the second level. A terrifying monster must have emerged from the first level."

Beside him, Xuan Wuji frowned and said, "Dao Cheng, are you sure it's a monster instead of a natural disaster?"

Dao Cheng answered solemnly, "There is nothing natural about this. I was doubtful, but now, I'm sure. When the crisis appeared on the first level, the second level was affected as well. But it wasn't as serious. But now, even the second level is reacting so intensely. This is definitely not natural. When I tried to foresee the danger...I was answered with an ill omen. We need to leave. If we stay, we will die. It would be even better if we could reach the seventh level and seek protection there. This opening, the Luminous Domain Mansion is a lot more dangerous than the past."

Xuan Wuji nodded with a frown. He still had some faith in Dao Cheng's fortune telling. He said, "But..."

He looked at the reddish tree amid the sea of flames ahead of them. He exhaled deeply and said, "Do we give up on this dragonblood fruit tree? This is bigger than even the one that had appeared outside not long ago. It is a lot older as well. If we can deal with the flames around it, we can harvest it..."

"We leave." Dao Cheng said, "We will need at least three days to deal with the flames here."

That wasn't too long. If they could remove the flames and harvest the tree, they could sell it for at least one carrier treasure to the dragons.

However, in face of the uncertainties on the second level, that was too long a wait.

Xuan Wuji was reluctant to leave. Around them, some other immortals looked reluctant as well. One of them said, "In that case, you guys can leave first. We'll remain and leave after harvesting the tree."

Dao Cheng understood their feeling. He was feeling the same. After all, the tree was right in front of them.

This was the most valuable treasure they had discovered on the second level. His grandfather still lacked a carrier treasure. With this tree alone, they would be able to make up for all their recent losses. However...he attempted another fortune telling only for his character to crack immediately.

At that, Dao Cheng paled. This signified extreme danger. An even bigger crisis was coming. Three days? He was afraid he wouldn't survive even one more day here.

"Sure. You have your reminder. I won't be staying here any longer."

With that, Dao Cheng departed. This was his sole choice. He could feel the arrival of death. Seeing how determined Dao Cheng was about leaving, Xuan Wuji frowned. After thinking about it, he departed as well.

With the two gone, a Mountainsea immortal sneered, "Dao Cheng sure is growing more and more timid nowadays. After losing Jiu Xuan, he seems to have lost all his courage to Su Yu. He has been crippled since then. He might still be an index genius, but he is far too timid to be worthy of that."

An immortal fairy giggled and said, "He's simply a romantic. He has been changed by Jiu Xuan's death. He's a good guy..."

"In that case, are you marrying him?"

"It's not like I can catch his eyes."

"..."

About ten of them were left. As they waited, they joked among themselves.

At this point, the raging lava and flames had calmed down. Thus, they weren't too bothered about it. After all, this wasn't the first time something like this was happening. This had happened several times since the day before.

Done with joking among themselves, their gazes settled on the nearby tree again. Looking at the numerous fruits hanging on it, the Mountainsea muttered with greed in his eyes, "What a treasure. Unfortunately, these fruits aren't too compatible with immortals. Then again, I don't see a point in trading this tree for anything else. This tree itself is enough to serve as a carrier treasure."

The fruits were incompatible with them, but it didn't matter. The tree itself was still useful for them. This tree must have emerged after the recent disturbances in the mansion. Otherwise, it would have been harvested long ago. They were certain that fate was finally smiling at them.

Dao Cheng and Xuan Wuji sure were generous to give up on such a bounty. Well, this wasn't a bad thing. With the two around, the rest of them wouldn't be able to get too big of a share from the harvest.

The same immortal fairy smiled and said, "Gu Zhu, don't forget our share. Don't even think of keeping the harvest for yourself. You're a descendant of the Immortal Emperor. Someone with your noble bloodline are entitled to a bigger share, but you can't hog everything for yourself either."

The Mountainsea called Gu Zhu smiled and said, "Don't worry. It's merely a carrier treasure. Us of the ancient immortal race will not ruin our reputation for something like this. I'm not Dao Cheng. We all know that his grandfather is urgently in need of something like this."

He continued, "Let's stop wasting time. Dao Cheng had predicted a crisis. I don't fully trust him, but I still have a little bit of trust in him. There have been too many disturbances as of late. Be on alert. We will leave right after harvesting this tree."

With that, they spread out and laid out their formation to suppress the flames surrounding the tree. Without the assistance of Xuan Wuji and Dao Cheng, this process would take about three to four days to complete.

Regardless of their bravado, they were still slightly worried after listening to Dao Cheng's warning. Alas, their worry was not enough to overcome their greed. This tree was simply too valuable. A carrier treasure was an absolute treasure for many people. Not everyone was like Su Yu, someone with multiple carrier treasures in possession.

***

Far away.

Xuan Wuji was able to catch up to Dao Cheng who was flying at a rapid speed. He said, "Are things really getting so dangerous?"

"Yes. I would have stayed for the tree otherwise. You know how much my grandfather needs it right now."

Dao Cheng answered solemnly, "Pick up the pace."

"What about the tree?"

Dao Cheng said, "It's fine. We can let him test the danger. No matter what, he is a descendant of the Immortal Emperor. He might even have some Invincible blood essence on him. If even someone like him could die to the danger, then this danger would be far beyond what we could handle. At that time, we would need to head straight to the seventh level."

As he said that, a strand of hair appeared in his hand. He twirled it around his finger and said, "This is Gu Zhu's hair. If Gu Zhu dies, it will burn. That will be our signal to flee as fast as possible."

"When did you get it?"

Xuan Wuji looked surprised. Any cultivator would be wary of letting others obtain their hair and blood.

"During the previous disturbance."

Dao Cheng said, "Don't overthink it. I don't know any curses. Even if I know some, it doesn't matter. A Mountainsea can't be cursed to death so easily."

Xuan Wuji did not say anything about that, but the wariness in his heart deepened. He reminded himself to stay careful when cooperating with Dao Cheng.

Yes, Dao Cheng was weaker than him. But Dao Cheng had also changed significantly after his encounter with Su Yu. Since that close brush with death, he had remained in a perpetually dark mood. It was no longer so easy to guess his thoughts.

Before long, the two reached the entrance to the third level.

***

Meanwhile, Su Yu was leisurely wandering around in the sky.

Suddenly, he looked somewhere in astonishment. Did he stumble upon a treasure? Was that not a dragonblood fruit tree? This was much larger than even the dragonblood fruit tree he had obtained previously.

"Is this tree...growing out of the blood vessel? Or is this...a body hair?"

Su Yu was unsure if it could be considered one. A lot of the things in the Luminous Domain Mansion were related to the human body. But some were also the things that had been planted by those who had entered after the building was completed.

The sight of the dragonblood fruit tree answered his question about the origin of this tree. Rooted to the blood vessels of Old Zhou, it would grow by absorbing Old Zhou's blood. No wonder it could grow into an invaluable treasure.

"Dragonblood fruit tree? What a stupid name. It should be called Old Zhou's Fruit Tree instead."

He glanced at the fifteen immortals around the tree from afar. Four of them were Mountainseas and the rest were Cloudbreaches. This was a relatively powerful group. When he looked at the group a second time with a glint in his eyes, he was left quite impressed. For some reason, they had actually caused his tribulation character to pulse once.

Inside the body of the seventh-stage Mountainsea was a drop of incomparably bright blood essence. This was quite a surprise. Which Invincible's descendant was this?

How generous.

What could that be except a drop of Invincible blood essence? Of course, that drop of blood essence was something that could only be used when the Mountainsea intended to die together with someone as its usage would kill the Mountainsea himself. That did not make the blood essence any less scary. Even Sunmoons would probably need to flee when that drop of blood essence was ignited.

"Invincible blood essence...regular Invincibles won't be generous enough to provide something like this. Don't tell me this is someone from Tiangu's family."

Su Yu clicked his tongue in amazement. Was this really someone from Tiangu's family? That was not a face he knew.

He wondered if this was someone on the Heavenly Hunt Index as well. Or perhaps this person had never ventured out of the Immortal Realm before. In any case, Su Yu's interest had been thoroughly piqued by this discovery. This could be considered a big shot among the immortals. In that case, his bloodline would most certainly be impressive. What would this do for his book? Tsk tsk...Su Yu was overjoyed. His book would most certainly benefit greatly from this.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l