At the same time.

Somewhere on the distant mountain.

Yue Hao frowned as two dark gates appeared in his eyes. These gates did not resemble Su Yu's Heaven Gate. Rather, they resembled the Hell Gate.

He looked outside and swept through the area with his gaze.

***

Instantly, Su Yu shivered.

An observation skill.

Clearly, he had encountered a match. The Xing Yu's token trembled slightly, suppressing all traces of his and Wan Tiansheng's presence, including their fortune, daos, source qi, and signs of life. It was as though the two had turned into stones.

Even a casual glance by him had caught the attention of someone there. How terrifying. That was most certainly a Venerable. This Venerable might even be stronger than Venerable Moon and the others.

Su Yu remained hidden for a long while. Even after the gaze was withdrawn, he remained inactive. After a while, the gaze returned. This time, it did not remain for long. Su Yu wasted no time and withdrew with Wan Tiansheng.

Shortly after, someone left the mountain again. He looked around speechlessly, wondering if Yue Hao was getting too paranoid. Why was Yue Hao being so wary for no reason? Was he feeling insecure after leaving their home and their ancestor? Was that why he was being so paranoid?

***

Su Yu had stopped far away from the mountain. He did not give the mountain a second glance.

After spending some time to calm himself, he said, "That's an important outpost. There are many experts there. It might not be a good place to attack, but it is the perfect target for us to suffer a crushing defeat."

Su Yu continued, "There is definitely a Venerable there. Or maybe more than one. We have encountered a difficult target."

Wan Tiansheng laughed and said, "Isn't this perfect? If they're too weak, we can't showcase our strength. We can't appear too weak as that won't be too believable either. Nobody will believe that we can be defeated by a weak force."

Su Yu nodded, "Exactly."

He laughed and continued, "We don't know much about them, but now, we're sure that there is at least one Venerable there. As for heavenly kings, we know that there are at least four of them based on what happened during their attack against the nether race. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"There are no proper phenomena when experts die in the Upper Realm. The dao fluctuations are the only signs of the deaths of experts. This won't be too difficult to fake. I have enough fake daos on me. I only need some time to create sufficient fluctuations to fool everyone. I only worry that our people will die for real instead of faking their deaths. After all, our opponents are too strong."

Wan Tiansheng said, "Just pretend you're back to the past. Your previous enemies had always been superior to you. Risk is ever-present. Death is unavoidable. Since you have enough fake daos in your possession, you can help our people recover rapidly even when they are dying. They only need to ensure that they don't die fully and there is a chance for them to come back.

"As long as our people can preserve the tiniest bit of life force, you can help them return. Since you are suspicious of Hundred Battle, go ahead with your plan. Should you fail, you will still have our support. As for the support of the others, it doesn't matter. Humanity will be fine if Hundred Battle is really so capable.

"If there are subordinates of Hundred Battle among us, we can simply hand the Lower Realm to them while the myriad races and chaos lineage and have the Upper Realm. We can retreat to the Death Realm instead.

"Just give it a try. We only need to do enough to learn more about Hundred Battle. Prepare our path of retreat before making your move and we can survive and return in the future even upon defeat."

Su Yu sank into contemplation. After a while, he nodded, "Let's do it. However, we need more contingencies. At the very least, we need to find a way to make the myriad races join the battle to either help us or clash against the chaos lineage when they're needed."

Su Yu grinned and said, "Our presence here is already on the verge of exposure. The unknown expert on that mountain is getting very cautious. In that case, let us do him a favor and move the exposure forward."

Abruptly, he opened his Heaven Gate fully. Then, he gazed upon the distant mountain.

After getting one good look at the mountain, Su Yu gasped and said, "Go!"

He dragged Wan Tiansheng off and vanished with a flicker. In a split second, a figure appeared at their previous location. Yue Hao had arrived.

Floating in the sky with his long hair whipping around him, he frowned and reached out at the spatial fluctuations in the air. With a cold expression, he muttered, "Heaven Gate? Or was it something else?"

Someone was spying on them! This wasn't even the first time it happened. Rather, it was the third time. His subordinates had reported to him that the disturbance was due to the mating season, he did not believe a single word of that. Something like a mating season would not give him the sensation of being spied upon.

He muttered again, "Torchbearers?"

How brazen. And how capable of them to be able to come so deeply into the Chaos Mountain.

They had fled.

"Why are they spying on us? Are they targeting us?"

Yue Hao laughed.

How naive. Even if the Torchbearers were not without Venerables, he was certain they had been greatly weakened. With the deaths of Bing Ku and the others, they wouldn't have too many experts left.

***

Meanwhile, Su Yu was still fleeing madly. In the blink of an eye, he moved about seven to eight thousand kilometers away before stopping and hiding again with Wan Tiansheng.

After a short wait, Su Yu spoke, his voice trembling, "Two Venerables and six heavenly kings. Eight super experts. This is only a single outpost, not their base of operations. They also have more than thirty Daofuses there."

Su Yu's heart was pounding. He had finally gotten a good look at that mountain.

Wan Tiansheng was gasping in shock as well. "How are there so many of them? This is merely an outpost. I doubt they will have more than one-third of their combat strength here. Is this lineage really so powerful?"

Six heavenly kings.

Over thirty Daofuses.

Su Yu sank into thought. Fat Ball could probably handle one of the Venerables. As for the other Venerable, could March deal with it? March might not agree to help.

As for the heavenly kings, Su Yu himself, Old Wan, Lan Tian, Great Zhou King, Cloud Fire Marquis, Snow Orchid General, and even Southbrook Marquis could deal with them. But without March's assistance, one of their Venerables would be free. That single Venerable could change the tide of their battle.

Su Yu licked his lips and said, "Principal, if we have you and Lan Tian fight a Venerable, it will be perfectly reasonable for the two of you to perish."

Wan Tiansheng's eyes flickered as he nodded, "Yes. Lan Tian can't die easily, so we only need to have him keep one last clone to ensure his survival. I can leave a trace of my consciousness in the dao. This is similar to what I planted in your heart back then. If I fail to return, you can search for my consciousness in my dao. You know the location of my dao. Just find a way to fish me out of it."

Wan Tiansheng could already guess the final result. It was unlikely that Lan Tian and him would be a match for a Venerable. It was very likely that they would be killed.

"Su Yu, you should worry more about yourself." Wan Tiansheng warned, "This is a lot more dangerous for you than us."

Su Yu nodded, "I understand. At worst, I will detonate Culture King's pen dao."

He gnashed his teeth and said, "Without the pen dao, nobody will view me as a threat anymore. This isn't a bad thing. I am almost ready to pioneer my own dao. Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for me to get started. The pen dao will act as a decoy for me."

Wan Tiansheng laughed in spite of what he was hearing and said, "I don't know what to say about you anymore."

Su Yu added, "I have plenty of trump cards. I have the Book of Time. As long as my Mark of Civilization is around, I will be around. That is the true core of my being. Every page from my Mark of Civilization is an incarnation of myself.

"I won't die so easily. They are now aware that we're targeting them. They will be very wary. We need to finish this quickly. It's time to lead our people and fight it out. Heavendoom has been complaining about the lack of action in the Upper Realm, right? Let's make him happy. We'll fuck things up before leaving."

Wan Tiansheng laughed.

With that, the conversation ended as the two started returning to their temporary base of operations.

***

Not long after, they were back. Su Yu wasted no time and said, "Get ready. The moment Great Ming King is done making all his mobile formations, we'll set off. The enemies are very powerful. They have one Venerable, six heavenly kings, and thirty Daofuses."

He was leaving one of the Venerables out to make their coming defeat more believable. Even so, what he said was enough to cause everyone to gasp in shock.

Great Zhou King said solemnly, "That's too strong. Are we really moving against them?"

This was too crazy.

Su Yu had previously said that they would only aim to expose the chaos lineage. But the opponents they found were too strong. It wouldn't be wise to face such opponents head-on. In the past, Su Yu would only take fights where victory was guaranteed. But this was clearly not such a scenario.

Su Yu said coldly, "We have to do it. This is their strength. Also, they might have noticed our scouting attempts. We need to attack immediately before they gather even more people from their base. I doubt they expect to see so many of us in the inner region. They won't expect a direct attack against them.

"We can take this chance to catch them by surprise. We can secure a small win from this. It would be great if we could kill a few heavenly kings of theirs. If we find ourselves too outmatched, we can simply withdraw. It's not like we will be fighting to the death."

The others looked at each other in shock. Should they really fight when the opponents were so strong?

According to Su Yu, the opponents might have discovered them. This would be completely different from their previous attack against the Sealed Mountain. Previously, they had a way of weakening their opponents. But the same couldn't be done to the chaos lineage. Furthermore, they were aware that the chaos lineage had numerous unique abilities as well.

Detection, sealing, spatial manipulation. These opponents were possibly proficient in all that. They could be just as flexible as Su Yu's side.

Snow Orchid General and the others, who were in the middle of a conversation with Cloud Fire Marquis and the others, frowned. Snow Orchid General said, "Human Lord Su, the enemies are too strong. Isn't it too rash of us to attack them head-on?

"We might have reached an agreement with the myriad races, but the myriad races are clearly using us to test the strength of the chaos lineage. It's not wise of us to start an all-out war with the chaos lineage when the myriad races are still at the sidelines."

Su Yu narrowed his eyes and said, "You're wrong. If we succeeded in killing a Venerable or a few heavenly kings and peak Daofuses, we would be able to free Giant Axe Marquis. We are in need of a Venerable on our side.

"I believe by now, you should have learned about the truth. The story about the Torchbearers is a mere lie. We are far weaker than the myriad races believe. We need a Venerable. We don't have a Venerable on our side.

"Don't worry. We aren't weaker than these people. If we're really outmatched, I will escape with everyone. Just trust me and things will be fine. I won't do something like this if I'm not confident we can escape alive. Of course, I can't force you to trust me if you're unwilling."

That was the only explanation Su Yu gave. He looked at Great Ming King and said, "Hasten the speed of your production. Try to complete all the formations by tomorrow. If you need more materials, I can go out and hunt some ancient beasts. We need to speed this up and not give them the time to react to our presence."

Great Ming King nodded, but he believed that Su Yu was being too hasty this time. Their enemies were too strong. They might end up suffering heavy losses even if they could secure the final victory against these enemies.

Ultimately, he could only choose to believe that Su Yu wouldn't do this without any confidence.

Su Yu said nothing else and started staring into the distance. Were Hundred Battle King and Yue Luo somewhere deep inside the Chaos Mountain? Where were they? Were they fighting to the death? Or were they having fun watching the unfolding chaos?

Su Yu had no idea. He only knew that Hundred Battle King might not be so useless. That was all he needed to know to put this plan forward.

"Trash Hundred Battle..."

As Su Yu muttered to himself, the people around him were rendered speechless. Why was he still thinking about Hundred Battle King at a time like this? It was as though scolding Hundred Battle King had turned into his hobby.

Snow Orchid General and the others frowned. They said nothing, but inwardly, they disapproved of this. The new human lord was too petty. They had inquired about Hundred Battle King's defeat. They concluded that things had simply gone out of control, resulting in the defeat. It wasn't like Hundred Battle King had deliberately given the myriad races the victory.

There was no need to keep complaining about him. As a human lord, Su Yu should display more grace.

Su Yu sighed and said, "I can only hope that Hundred Battle will be successful in killing Yue Luo and return sooner. At the very least, he can serve as a good fighter. He is strong enough to handle a Venerable all by himself."

The others rolled their eyes. On one hand, he kept scolding Hundred Battle King. But at the same time, he also wanted Hundred Battle King's help. What did he want, exactly?

After some time, Su Yu looked at Heavenbridge Marquis and said, "Send me somewhere. I'll return when the preparations here are complete. When I return, we will set off immediately."

"Yes!"

Everyone answered, and many of them appeared excited.

Many of them had fought a lot of battles under Su Yu. As far as they were concerned, Su Yu had never lost. It was only natural that this time, they would maintain their winning streak. As far as they were concerned, Su Yu had never fought a battle he couldn't win. They would certainly win again.

Su Yu said nothing else.

Things would probably be fine if everyone listened. But if some decided to disobey him, so be it.