Chapter 88: He Couldn’t Bear Such a Grievance

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: He Couldn’t Bear Such a Grievance

A wise man avoids needless danger. After bidding farewell to the somewhat mysterious woman, Su Han strode quickly toward his Skill Tree.

As he walked, Su Han sent out his Divine Thought to check behind him.

Only when he saw that the area behind him was empty and the woman was nowhere to be seen did Su Han relax a little.

Back beside the Skill Tree, he cast Rain of Fire, successfully illuminating it.

First selectable skill: Immortal.

"Immortal?"

He selected the skill and acquired it.

The skill transformed into Dao Rhyme and flowed into Su Han’s Sea of Consciousness. At the same time, a mysterious force from the great beyond seemed to act directly upon his physical body and Divine Soul.

Skill: Immortal. (Passive)

When you receive grievous or fatal damage, or are afflicted by a fatal negative status, the passive skill Immortal will automatically trigger. For five breaths, you will be immune to all attacks and negative statuses.

(Cooldown: Thirty days.)

Su Han: "..."

The moment he read the skill description, Su Han was so dumbfounded by the sudden surprise that he was completely caught off guard.

Invincibility!

It was clear from the description. This passive skill, Immortal, was the kind of invincibility skill from video games that is infuriating to face but that everyone covets.

His arsenal of powerful offensive skills gave him the confidence to face—and easily kill—several Creation Realm experts, or even stronger entities.

But while he could kill such beings, he couldn’t survive their frenzied attacks. The fundamental reason was simple: he only had offensive skills.

And now, Immortal had patched up his last remaining weakness.

Take the skills he had before, like the Forbidden Magic: Seven Soul Seals. It ignored the gap between cultivation realms, Sealing the Enemy’s Three Souls and binding their Seven Spirits at the cost of damaging his own Three Souls and Seven Spirits.

However, that skill was a double-edged sword; to kill the enemy, he himself would have to pay a near-fatal price.

Or take the Secret Magic, Nirvana, which he learned from his mother. It condensed all of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit into a single point to unleash a powerful strike capable of killing an enemy three major realms above him. The price, however, was complete depletion of his own Essence, Qi, and Spirit, leaving him utterly helpless.

But now... if he triggered Immortal’s passive effect first, he could essentially spam the Secret Magic, Nirvana, like a basic attack, using it without limit for five breaths.

After all...

Immortal’s invincibility included immunity to all negative statuses. Since the depletion of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit was a form of consumption, it would naturally be classified as a negative status as well.

After reviewing the information for the Immortal skill, Su Han casually extinguished the last smoldering embers on the remains of the Skill Tree and joyfully soared into the air.

’This Crown Prince truly is a peerless genius. For offense, I have Celestial Punishment, Nine Swords, and Seven Soul Seals. For defense, I have Immortal, granting immunity to all attacks and negative statuses.’

’I wouldn’t even be scared to go head-to-head with a whole group of Creation Realm experts now.’

’This... is just pushing me further and further down the path of invincibility!’

’Sigh! How troubling...’

’I haven’t even entered the Divine Sea Realm, yet I’m already unrivaled in the world. This is seriously killing my motivation to cultivate!’

"To be invincible is so, so lonely."

"To be invincible is so, so empty."

"Alone at the summit..."

After this moment of reflection, Su Han continued flying through the air, shaking his head and singing to himself.

He was in the middle of his song when a scene he observed with his Divine Thought brought him to a halt. A strange expression crept onto his face.

’What are all these guys... doing here?’

Using his Disguise Magic, he changed his appearance to that of "Guo Jing" and flew toward the location he’d spotted with his Divine Thought.

Within a few breaths, a crowd of one to two thousand people appeared before his eyes.

"Who goes there!"

As Su Han flew toward them, several people in the crowd looked up simultaneously, their faces full of vigilance.

"Elder Guo!"

Before Su Han could even speak, Zhao Yang and the other disciples from the Celestial Demon Sect, who were also in the crowd, revealed his identity.

Seeing that even the Celestial Being patriarchs of the Celestial Demon Sect were calling this man "Elder," the Celestial Human Realm ancestors from the other Major Sects all looked at Su Han with unconcealed, profound wariness.

With a nod, Su Han landed beside Zhao Yang.

"What... are you all doing here?"

In truth, it wasn’t just a question Su Han wanted to ask; Zhao Yang and the others were wondering the exact same thing. Why *were* they here?

"You might not believe this, Elder, but we don’t know why we’re here either."

"Oh?"

Su Han paused for a moment before realizing what Zhao Yang meant. "What happened?"

"Seven days ago, we activated the Array Stones and were transported into the ruin’s Concealment Array..."

Zhao Yang rattled on, recounting everything he had experienced over the past few days.

As he spoke of what happened after they entered the ruins, Zhao Yang’s face filled with indignation.

"Elder, you have no idea how vicious that person was! There were more than three thousand of us! More than three thousand people entered those ruins."

"Of those three thousand plus people, aside from a handful of Celestial Human Realm ancestors, almost everyone else was in that forest."

"And then that despicable bastard... he set the entire forest on fire."

"I’ll be honest, Elder. More than three thousand of us went in, but less than fifteen hundred made it out alive. Most of the casualties weren’t killed by the Demon Trees, but because the trees blocked their escape, they were literally roasted alive by the blaze."

Su Han: "..."

’So... I really did accidentally screw them all over?’

’Then again, they came to my territory trying to snatch opportunities. If they weren’t strong enough and ended up dead, that’s on them.’

’How can you let others snore peacefully by your own bedside? To just stand by and watch others reap benefits in my own backyard... If I didn’t have to worry about the power dynamics and consequences, I’d have wiped them all out.’

Just as Su Han was thinking this, Zhao Yang spoke up again, confused.

"By the way, Elder, did you not enter the ruins? I was hoping to ask if you knew who that despicable person was."

Su Han smiled benevolently. "I went in..."

"Huh?"

Zhao Yang gave Su Han a strange look. "When we were all thrown out of the ruins, we appeared here. Why were you..."

"That is precisely why I am the elder, and you are the junior."

"Oh."

Zhao Yang nodded. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, but at the same time, what the Elder said sounded quite reasonable.

"You said earlier that you were all ’thrown out’?"

As expected, Zhao Yang’s attention was immediately diverted by Su Han’s question.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!"

"You must have heard it too, Elder, right? Not long after that despicable person set the forest on fire, a blood-curdling scream seemed to echo throughout the entire ruins."

"It sounded like someone had lost their Great Treasure Sword."

"And then, not long after that, the same person apparently lost a Heaven-Trapping Lock, a Godslaying Stele, a Wordless Celestial Scripture, and so on..."

The simple-minded Zhao Yang actually had a surprising knack for storytelling. He recounted his own interpretation of the information gleaned from the Array Spirit’s screams, and it was every bit as entertaining as a tale from Su Xiao’Er.

After finishing his tale, Zhao Yang looked at Su Han to deliver his final conclusion.

"Elder, to be honest, this junior believes that the series of thefts in the ruins is definitely connected to that despicable arsonist."

Su Han: "..."

An unnatural expression flickered across his face. Forcibly suppressing the urge to silence this guy for good, Su Han managed a strained smile.

"Oh? Is... is that so? How do you know?"

"Well, think about it, Elder. The thief who stole all those treasures—pretty despicable, right?"

"And the arsonist who almost burned us all to a crisp—also despicably rotten, wouldn’t you say?"

"It’s enough for one ruin to have one person that despicable. How could there possibly be two of them at the same time?"

"So, this junior speculates that it must have been the same person."

Su Han: "..."

’F*ck this, I can’t take it anymore! I really can’t take it!’

’Calling me despicable for burning the forest was one thing; I’ll admit that was on me. But the thefts... can that really be pinned on me?’

’My ancestor took a few treasures from his own domain. How is that despicable?’

Su Han couldn’t stand being wronged like this. Silently, he added Zhao Yang’s name to his mental blacklist and gave him another look.

"You said, before you were thrown out of the ruins, you heard half a scream?"

Zhao Yang nodded. "Yeah. That last scream was more tragic than all the previous ones combined."

"What did he yell?"

Zhao Yang thought for a moment. "I think it was... ’You f*cking bastard, you didn’t even spare the coffin!’"