The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron

Prince Yun’s lips stretched into a grim smile. “Of course you may! Not only you, but the rest of my brothers, too, may have a taste of Princess Chuxue if interested. She is the most beautiful Princess of the Empire after all.”

Flames were blazing in the eyes of the Princes as they forcefully swallowed their saliva.

Their hearts thumped wildly at the mere thought of Princess Chuxue’s beauty and grace.

Xue Xiaoman scowled slightly. As a woman, the idea of treating a woman that way greatly appalled her.

However, as she shot a glance at Prince Yun, Xue Xiaoman did not dare to object.

“Brother Prince Yun, I only ask to have Su Yu at my disposal.”

Prince Yun nodded with nonchalance. “As you please! However, you have to treat him nicely, and let him know what the consequences of plundering the possessions of the Northern Xue Nation are!”

Xue Xiaoman nodded. “Exactly what I’m thinking!”

Nonetheless, Xue Xiaoman hated Su Yu far more for stripping her clothes off and leaving her naked than she resented him for taking her weapons.

The latter was due to her inferior strength, and she could not blame it on anyone else.

However, the former was a deliberate insult.

Prince Yun nodded, the expression of his face eerie and hideous. “The Northern Xue Nation has served the imperial family for millions of years, and finally, our Father has decided to join the Heaven-defying Empire!”

“Let the emancipation begin with the banquet at the Woods of Drunken Immortals, and may we celebrate the rebirth of the Northern Xue Nation with the blood of Princess Chuxue!”

The Northern Xue Nation was on the brink of a rebellion.

“The Northern Xue Nation is going to rebel,” inside the shop, Su Yu muttered softly after brooding for a few moments.

Surprisingly, Yongye Chuxue did not argue. She remained calm as she listened to his words.

The reality, after all, was right before their eyes.

The Princes threatened her publicly, and later even sent several Level Five deities to besiege the place where she was staying.

What else could it be if not an attempt at rebellion?

After a long while, Yongye Chuxue said, “Celebrations rarely go well. I have a foreboding feeling about the upcoming banquet at the Woods of Drunken Immortals.”

Su Yu chortled. “Are you sure it’s just a foreboding feeling? I think you most likely wouldn’t return!”

Casting a look at her beautiful form, Su Yu said musingly, “I’m not certain about what they are planning for me, but whatever it is, you would probably suffer an even worse fate, Princess.”

Upon hearing that, Princess Chuxue shuddered. Her beauty was renowned, and if the Northern Xue Nation did rebel, she could imagine what the princes of that nation would do to her.

“If you wish to leave, I can send you off,” Su Yu said placidly.

Even though they were surrounded by a large group of powerful individuals, if he chose to use the Yin Yang Wings, not even the monarchs of the four great empires could detain them.

“Why should I leave?” Unexpectedly, the seemingly feeble Yongye Chuxue had a resolute, staunch look on her face.

“I am a Princess of the Empire. Why should I bow to a bunch of traitors and usurpers?” Yongye Chuxue’s crystal-clear eyes flickered with a gleam of ferocity. “Not only will I attend the banquet at the Woods of Drunken Immortals, but I will go with my flags flying and bands playing!”

Su Yu’s eyes sparkled with admiration. “Hahaha, well said! If you run away now, I would look down on you indeed.”

“Rest assured, I will escort you there tomorrow. If they wish to spill blood, I will indulge them!” Su Yu’s smile was callous and dangerous.

Yongye Chuxue said impatiently, “It will be good enough if we manage to keep from harm. What a guy, always talking nonsense…”

Su Yu smiled. He began to pace around the room, trying to analyze the strategy driving the rulers of the Northern Xue Nation.

“It seems like the riots and upheavals of the southern tribes have finally propelled the Northern Xue Nation toward rebellion,” Su Yu thought to himself.

“The rebellion of the south was triggered by a mysterious tomb-guarding spirit, the power of which must not be slighted!”

“The rebellion of the North must have had some sort of connection with Nitian Guyun.”

“It must be quite challenging to douse the flames of war in both the North and the South. At least, it can’t be done overnight!”

“In the midst of the spreading rebellion, how could the West and the East remain stable?”

“Even without the intervention of the Empire of Ice and Fire and the Taiching Empire, it is hard to be sure that the forces of the West and East wouldn’t seize power with their private armies,” Su Yu mumbled under his breath.

“The Empire of Darkness is in a precarious position. There is a high chance that it will dissolve and fall apart very soon!”

Su Yu could almost envision the complete downfall of the Empire of Darkness as he continued with his speculations. He could predict how the three great Empires would join forces and crush Yongye Jiuyang.

However, none of it mattered to Su Yu, he would not lend a hand to aid the Empire of Darkness.

After all, Yongye Jiuyang had always wanted him dead.

“The Ancient God Realm is on the verge of civil unrest, and the Lost Nation has turned out to be the safest place. This journey is bound to happen.” Su Yu made up his mind to travel to the Lost Nation.

Calming down, Su Yu took out the Reverse Scale. Yongye Wuming was left within the space of the Reverse Scale, and the rest of its contents were inexhaustible resources.

With a shift of thoughts, Su Yu transferred all of them to the world of the martial tower.

“Wahaha, so many resources! Man, have you started robbing and looting again?” Black Kylin stuck out its head, and its eyes shimmered with greed.

Su Yu rolled his eyes. “You could say that.”

“Hold on!” All of a sudden, Black Kylin looked stunned and the expression on its face gradually changed. “This is not the Star River!”

“Yes, this is a forsaken god realm, which had been the battlefield of the Nine Emperors in the olden days,” Su Yu stated placidly, observing Black Kylin’s expression from the corner of his eye.

Just as he expected, upon the mention of the Nine Emperors, Black Kylin’s eyes flashed with complex emotions. There were hints of remorse and sorrow flickering in them.

Nonetheless, those emotions were only displayed for a fleeting moment before being quickly concealed.

Black Kylin spoke again, “How fortunate you are to have found this forsaken god realm! It is even more glorious than the Star River.”

“You should take advantage of it. If you are lucky, you might be able to reap unexpected gains, such as some Emperor-based Saint Artifacts.”

Gains? Su Yu touched his chin. Nowadays, low-ranking Emperor-based Saint Artifacts no longer piqued his interest.

When it finished speaking, Black Kylin pulled its head back.

” Black Kylin has connections with the Nine Emperors indeed.” Su Yu has always been trying to figure out Kylin’s identity, but he hadn’t expected it to be related to the Nine Emperors.

One among the Nine Emperors was the Kylin Divine Warrior.

Su Yu could not be certain whether Black Kylin was related to the Kylin Divine Warrior.

Fixing his gaze on the Reverse Scale again, Su Yu transferred Yongye Wuming to the Buddha Pearl.

Holding the Reverse Scale in his grip, Su Yu pressed it gently to his chest.

A strong sense of connection with flesh and blood rose within him, and the Reverse Scale disappeared obediently into Su Yu’s chest without any delay.

The drop of the World Annihilation Dragon Blood hidden in the Reverse Scale fused into Su Yu’s body, little by little.

Su Yu felt an unimaginable power gradually filling his body, instantly transforming his physique into a better, stronger one.

As he clenched his fists, a power that even Su Yu himself found terrifying was surging back and forth within his grip.

“Ha! Now this fist can break a Level Six deity into pieces, can’t it? And a Level Five deity would shed a layer of skin even if their life was spared!” Su Yu was jubilant.

The increase in power was unimaginable. It had grown by leaps and bounds!

At that moment, Su Yu had attained the power of a Level Five deity in terms of physical strength. If he ever encountered Xue Zhongbao again, he could easily match him in a fistfight.

Su Yu looked inside his abdomen. Having been continuously nourished, the two divine spirits had thrived and reached the point of late-stage Prospective Deity.

Despite this, however, Su Yu experienced no sign of breakthrough into a deity level.

Even though he practiced several Divine Paths, he hadn’t observed any signs of divine transformation, which made Su Yu feel rather helpless.

For ordinary people, divine tribulations would emerge naturally once they arrived at the ultimate phase of the practice of a Divine Path.

By then, the Divine Path would be ignited and they could break past the divine tribulations, transforming into a deity.

However, Su Yu was different. Before his Divine Path was ignited, the divine spirit had appeared, fulfilling the conditions of becoming a deity.

Later, as Su Yu acquired more and more Divine Paths, there were no signs of the occurrence of divine tribulations.

If the Divine Path didn’t get ignited, Su Yu would never become a deity.

Su Yu had a vague feeling that some kind of force was suppressing him from rising to the level of a deity.

As he recalled the many divine tribulations which he had experienced in the past, Su Yu frowned. Could it be the hostile force meddling with him again?

As the thought occurred to him, resentment filled Su Yu’s eyes.

That overwhelming force had been hindering and deterring Su Yu ever since he began training, and it was still holding him back even now.

“I have overcome even divine tribulations. What could stop me from becoming a deity?” Su Yu queried.

Stubbornly, he said, “You can suppress a Divine Path practiced to the point of perfection. Perhaps you can suppress even a hundred Divine Paths. What about a thousand, or ten thousand Divine Paths?”

Su Yu had the skeletal remains of ten thousand deities in hand, and he had the help of the Fragment of Rules. It would not be difficult for him to acquire the Divine Paths of all those deities.

“Fine! If you’re determined to fight, I will fight to the last!” Su Yu snorted and commenced studying the Divine Paths left behind in the ten thousand deities’ skeletons right away.

Boom!

A deafening bolt of thunder struck from the clear sky all of a sudden. The white bolts of lightning, several thousand feet in width, fell upon the Tiannu Trade House, splitting a thousand-year-old ancient tree at the backyard into halves.

Su Yu sneered. “I got it right! It is you who keeps messing with me.”

The more the force tried to impede Su Yu, the more Su Yu would go against it.

Su Yu closed his eyes and quickly entered a meditative state to comprehend the Divine Paths of all the deities.

The next evening, the rays of the slanting sun shone on the clouds at dusk.

Su Yu slowly opened his eyes, awakening from meditation, and the Power of Time around him dissipated like receding water.

A trace of weariness and many sparks of enlightenment glittered at once in Su Yu’s eyes.

“Now I have acquired the Divine Paths of ten more deities,” Su Yu thought for a moment. If given enough time, it would not be too hard for him to acquire ten thousand Divine Paths.

At that moment, Su Yu felt someone approaching from outside and opened the door.

Yongye Chuxue was waiting out there. Her eyes were tired, but she looked resolute. Apparently, she had been secretly preparing for the banquet at the Woods of Drunken Immortals.

“Time to go.” The look on Yongye Chuxue’s face was cold and detached, and her eyes gleamed with icy sparks.

Su Yu nodded, and together, they left for the Woods of Drunken Immortals.

The servants of the Xue Nation, who had besieged them earlier, trailed after them stealthily, while constantly reporting their locations in case they ran away.

The Woods of Drunken Immortals were located on a small island amidst a lake, a recreational spot for the royal family of the Xue Nation. The place was usually closed, as it was reserved for receiving important guests.

Today, it was deliberately opened to receive their guest of honor, Yongye Chuxue. The occasion was obviously a ceremonious one.

In honor of it, the royal house of the Xue Nation even spread the news of the Princess’s visit, informing everyone in the city about it.

Su Yu and Princess Chuxue arrived at the lakeside. From afar, they saw many members of the royal family on the island going about their activities, yet no one came forth to receive them.

Yongye Chuxue was not bothered by the purposeful negligence, as she had expected it all.

However, neither Yongye Chuxue nor Su Yu attempted to flee.

They knew that the members of the Xue family were planning to murder them at this banquet. Extricating themselves from this situation would not be that simple.