"Damn it! Am I so weak?"


    He was there during Mo Duona''s challenge. At the start, Mo Duona was able to walk quite fast. He had only started slowing down after walking some distance toward the gate. This made no sense.


    Su Yu couldn’t ept that he was so much weaker than Mo Duona. He felt greatly defeated.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    In his desperation, he released even more source qi and utilized all 360 of his acupoints. With a roar, his entire body turned gold.


    "Go, damn it!"


    With a rumble, he finallypleted his first step.


    A random person happened to be passing by. When that person noticed Su Yu, heughed with amusement, "Where did this ignorant foole from?"


    Sure, a lot of people had died earlier in the day due to their mouths. But the current challenger was not someone to be afraid of. Someone who was having such a hard time taking even one step was nothing. The sneering individual reckoned that even he was capable of walking at least one step forward in the challenge.However, Su Yu was in no mood to care about the onlookers. He gnashed his teeth while beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. He felt as though he had returned to his childhood. Back then, he would feel just as helpless during his nightmares. Nobody could help him. Nobody understood his pain.


    This was uneptable. He might not have said anything about it, but he had been still quite pleased after entering the Heaven Index. Did everyone see that? He was a genius as well! Even without the golden book, he would still be a genius.


    But his pride, his confidence, his everything had been shattered by this gate. He gnashed his teeth in desperation. He would not ept that he was really so useless. If Mo Duona could go through the gate, he could do so as well. Even if he was someone with terrible talent, he would still be able to make it.


    He would not lose faith in himself.


    He refused to.


    There were still people he needed to save. There were still people he needed to help. And there were still people he needed to kill. How dare a mere gate stop his path?


    <em>Rumble!</em>


    His battle intent surged. The battle character started showing signs of breakthrough, but hepletely ignored it. He focused only on the challenge. The pressure on him grew even stronger, making it hard for him to even breathe.


    Not far away, the Mountainsea guard was looking over doubtfully. What the hell was that? From the intensity of that battle intent, the challenger shouldn''t have been stuck so early in the challenge.


    Perhaps this was a beast tamer? But this didn''t make sense. The beasts of a beast tamer would be stored inside the beast space. They wouldn''t alter the difficulty of the challenge. Was this person carrying a beast on him? Nope.


    If there was a beast, the beast would have been flung out by the gate the moment the challenge started. Since that didn''t happen, there was most certainly no beast on this challenger.


    The Mountainsea was right except for one part. The beast was not carried externally. What was the little furball?


    Even the heavenlyws were unable to urately measure the existence known as the furball. When the furball stayed inside Su Yu''s sea of willpower, the heavenlyws merely treated him as an odd character of an ancient race. And a character would naturally not be considered an external object.


    Su Yu had forgotten about the furball. The Mountainsea guard was unaware of the furball. And the furball himself didn''t think that it was his fault. Thus, this happened. Even with all his strength and talent, Su Yu was still having an extremely difficult time with the challenge.


    Anyone seeing this would wonder if the challenger was actually an old man with mediocre talent. Despite his respectable cultivation and battle intent, he was simply not talented enough to challenge the gate.


    If even the Mountainsea guard was confused, the regr guards and the pedestrians were naturally not aware of what was going on as well. In fact, they couldn''t even be bothered to spare the challenger any attention anymore. Such a weakling was simply not worth their time.


    Every now and then, there would be some people attempting the challenge. So this wasn''t even a rare event. They reckoned that this challenger would probably fail after about ten steps. What a waste of time.


    ***


    "I''m not this weak! I''m a genius! Even if I''m not, I am what I believe myself to be!"


    Su Yu roared inwardly. He refused to ept this. Was someone a genius just because one was talented? No! One would only be considered a genius with sufficient strength. What the fuck was this thing called talent? He had no need for that.


    He only needed strength. He needed to be so strong that he could smash through any obstacle in front of him. How dare a mere gate bully him!


    <em>Boom!</em>


    With another step, Su Yu unleashed more source qi and absorbed more of the remnant willpower left in his sea of willpower. He had decided to treat this as a training session.


    He would never stop growing.


    Nobody could stop him!


    His battle intent surged further as his battle character started shaking madly. Fight. Keep fighting. Nobody could stop his pace. Not the humans. Not the myriad races. Nobody.


    <em>Boom!</em>


    Finally, the battle characterpleted his advancement. With that, Su Yu obtained yet another fourth-tier character. With a higher battle intent, even his physical body received a slight boost. He pushed forward, taking yet another step with a loud rumble. Beads of sweat continued dripping down his forehead.


    What was this little bit of pain? This was nothing!


    ***


    "With such a powerful battle intent...how is this person struggling so much after only five steps? This doesn''t make sense. Even if this is someone whose potential has only started blooming at an old age, this still doesn''t make sense."


    The Mountainsea guard was getting more and more confused. Due to his confusion, he was paying even more attention. He spected that this human was most likely not Su Yu. Regardless of his confidence in his previous conjecture, he did not hesitate to change his mind.


    Sixth step. Seventh step.


    Su Yu continued advancing with great determination. The pressure allowed his physical body to continue growing with every step he took. By the time he reached the ninth step, the golden radiance around his body intensified. With a rumble, hepleted his fifteenth body forging.


    He received a massive boost in strength. With his newfound strength, he straightened his spine again. Just because he was weaker today did not mean that he would be weaker forever. Mo Duona! If Mo Duona could go through this gate, so could he!


    At the same time.


    Inside the prefect''s residence.


    Inside the massive hall, the stone statue opened its eyes for the second time on the same day. Outside the hall was another hall. That was the residence of the current mayor of the city, the ninth-stage Sunmoon. But the ninth-stage Sunmoon didn''t even notice anything when the stone statue opened its eyes.


    The scene of what was happening at the city gate appeared in the stone statue''s eyes. The Su Yu reflected in that scene was one without any disguise whatsoever. Additionally, a little furball could also be seen on Su Yu''s head.


    "..."


    The statue was deep in thought. After a long while, the statue muttered, "There is actually such a fool in this world? Why is that fool challenging the gate with a soul devourer that is even higher in cultivation than him?"


    The statue was very impressed. This had never happened from the ancient times until now. The bigger a genius one was, the stronger the suppression of the gate would be. After all, this trial was meant to serve as a test for these young geniuses.


    But this young genius, in particr, was actually carrying a soul devourer, an extremely rare race during his challenge. Essentially, he was taking on the challenges of two super geniuses at the same time. Was this not a fool?


    After existing throughout the ages, today was the day the statue''s horizons were broadened. The stone statue that seemed as old as time itself didn''t know what to say. How could someone so stupid exist?


    Then again, it was quite impressive for that fool to take nine steps in such a situation. Without that soul devourer, that human could have taken forty or fifty steps by now. Abruptly, a different item appeared in the stone statue''s eyes.


    A stone stele.


    Character Technique Stele!


    "Wow. That thing is actually still around."


    The stone statue muttered. It was very rare for this statue to say so many words in a single day. After a while, the stone statue also saw arge number of characters in the head of that human. It remained indifferent. Then, it saw a massive hammer. It was slightly amazed. The human race seemed to have developed nicely in the field of divine characters. They had improved a lot more than the statue had imagined.


    Following that, it saw the numerous acupoints in Su Yu''s body. Finally, the statue was surprised.


    "After the great copse, someone...with a Grand Cycle Body has actually appeared!"


    How did this human aplish that? Grand Cycle Body...no wonder this human''s body seemed so harmonious. What a pity that the sea of willpower was still somewhatcking. But the statue also noticed something else. Has the...Five Elemental Art…been repaired?


    Interesting. Such an interesting individual had actually appeared. Apart from his low intellect, this human was pretty great in all other factors. He was good enough to be considered a super genius in any era.


    "72-Forged Iron Devourer..."


    Once again, the statue was surprised. This human was even rted to the iron devourer race. That was an ancient race as well. Subsequently, the statue saw something else. Inside Su Yu''s heart, something Su Yu himself had never discovered, was a tiny human who was seated cross-legged.


    The miniature human abruptly opened his eyes. His vision prated space itself to reach the stone statue. The stone statue was looking at him as well.


    The miniature human stood up and started walking toward the stone statue. It was as though he was walking through the River of Time itself. But the stone statue rejected the visit, "You''re not wee here."


    The miniature man stopped and spoke, "We met once decades ago during my visit to the city. Do you remember me, ancient city lord?"


    "Yes." The stone statue repeated, "You''re not wee."


    The miniature man smiled, "I don''t mean any offense. I was merely roused by your gaze. After all, you have been asleep for many years. It is truly surprising to see you awake today."


    The stone statue stared at the miniature man for a long while before saying, "Leave...or return to slumber."


    "Alright."


    The miniature man said nothing and returned to Su Yu''s heart. He vanished and returned to slumber. Nobody except the stone statue noticed anything. After onest look at the heart, the stone statue shut its eyes.


    The stone statue had noticed the uniqueness of this human. But this human was also protected by an expert. There was no need for the statue to look further since even the protector had been roused awake.


    At the same time.


    Human Realm.


    Heart Cultivating Pavilion, Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.


    Wan Tiansheng suddenly stood up. Staring into the sky, the look in his eyes changed. After a long while, he muttered, "Did he encounter an expert?"


    A super expert.


    The kid was such a troublemaker. Fortunately, there was no battle. So it was only an encounter? He had actually been detected. With a frown, Wan Tiansheng stepped out of the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, noiselessly walking onward in the sky. Nobody could see him.


    When he reached Hong Tan''s Wentan Research Center, he saw Hong Tan scolding some students. He smiled and continued walking. A short whileter, he reached Yuan Qingdong''s vi. Looking downward at the vi, he shook his head and continued walking.


    He walked outside the academy and reached the Xia Family''s residence. After scanning the ce, hended in Marquis Xia''s courtyard and took some food with him. Then, he continued his stroll in the sky. Shortly after, he reached Nanyuan.


    He reached Su Yu''s house. Once again, he shook his head. What a mess. There were numerous experts around him. Right beside him was a Sunmoon, but the Sunmoon waspletely oblivious to his presence.


    Wan Tiansheng sighed. Was Nanyuan the origin of theing disaster? He nced in Great Ming''s direction before looking away. He turned around and started his return trip. A short whileter, he was back at the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.


    At the Grotto District, a massive dragon rxing in a river suddenly opened his eyes. He looked into the sky with both uncertainty and fear. Who could it be? But soon, that sensation vanished. The seventh-stage Sunmoon dragon shook his head and returned to his nap. He must have sensed wrongly.


    Wan Tiansheng was back in the Heart Cultivating Pavilion. Once again, he shut his eyes. Who did that kid encounter in the Allheaven Battlefield? For some reason, he was feeling ill at ease. What manner of expert was it that could cause him so jittery?


    Should he activate his n earlier?


    How troublesome.


    If he had known it would be so troublesome, he would have ignored the kid.