From the gate, a bluestone street led deeper into the city. Numerous buildings could be seen on the two sides of the empty street. It was very quiet. The ancient city might be massive, but there weren’t a lot of people in it.
At that moment, night had arrived.
Behind Su Yu, the Mountainsea guard spoke again, "It is not a good idea to linger outdoors at night. Find an empty building and spend the night there. Otherwise...you will have to bear the consequences yourself."
It was not a good idea to stay outdoors at night? So basically, it was not prohibited, only discouraged? Su Yu was feeling doubtful. The guards were also outside at night. Weren't they fine?
"How about you guys?" Su Yu asked.
"We..." The Mountainsea guard replied, "We'll be fine. After all, we're a part of the city itself."
A vague understanding dawned on Su Yu. He asked no other questions and continued onward. Numerous buildings could be seen around him. Some were very worn-out, with doors and windows that were on the verge of falling apart.
However, he did not try to do anything to these worn-out buildings. One should not damage the properties in the city. One wouldn't be able to do so anyway. That was what the Mountainsea guard told him. And if one somehow managed to damage a property in the city, bad things would happen.
A wooden board was hanging outside every single building in the city. And there were only two variations to the words written on these hanging boards: Occupied and unoccupied.
Through these boards, one would be able to determine if a building was empty or not. Su Yu was walking along the street when a door nearby opened suddenly. A jade talisman was tossed out. Alarmed, Su Yu hurriedly retreated, thinking that someone was attacking him.
But the talisman merely landed on the ground. When Su Yu focused, he noticed some blood on the talisman. He instantly realized something. Was this an attempt to become a resident of the city? He looked at the opened door and saw a pair of eyes. A massive elk stood inside the building.
The elk took a step back in shock upon seeing someone outside. The door was instantly slammed shut.
"Hmm?"
Su Yu blanked out. But soon, he realized something. Did that elk mistake him for the person in charge of collecting the talisman? Somebody would be collecting these talismans, right? More importantly, would that elk still be able to turn into a resident if he took the talisman? What if he did it for three days in a row? The elk would believe that they had turned into a resident when that wasn't the case. What would happen?
According to the rumors, bad things would happen if one stayed more than three days. Would that kill the elk? The elk was happily staying in the city, thinking that they had become a resident. Alas, that was a lie. How pitiful would that be?
Looking at the talisman on the ground, Su Yu was tempted to try picking it up. It was left completely unattended. Could he take it? But suddenly, his heart thumped violently. His tribulation character was pulsing intensely.
Alarmed, Su Yu sped off. Even when he was hundreds of meters away, the tribulation character was still pulsing. However, the intensity had dropped slightly. Right at that moment, a dark figure appeared near the talisman.
Under the darkness of the night, the dark figure approached the talisman one step at a time. When the figure reached out, the talisman flew over and vanished. Then, the dark figure started writing on the hanging board in front of the building the talisman was tossed out of. Shortly after, the dark figure left.
Su Yu was greatly shocked. What was this? His Perception Jade had failed to detect the dark figure that he had seen with his own eyes. The distance between them did not exceed one kilometer. The jade should be able to detect the figure. Was that an Invincible? Impossible! Someone tasked to pick up some jade talisman was actually an Invincible? Was that a joke?
Su Yu was deep in thought when his tribulation started going wild again. He hurriedly sped off. At the exact moment, the departing dark figure turned to look at him. A beam of light shot out of the figure's eyes, heading straight toward him.
Su Yu was greatly alarmed. All his senses were screaming at him that this was dangerous. He started flickering everywhere as he tried to flee the dark figure. He was the only person on the street. He made a lot of noise as he fled, but not one of the inhabitants in the surrounding buildings opened their doors or windows to look at the commotion.
Everyone in the ancient city knew to not go outdoors at night. Even if the sky itself was falling outside, they should not let their curiosity get the best of them. Otherwise, death might follow.
Only two types of people dared to go outdoors in an ancient city at night. Clueless fools or experts. Whatever reason one had, going outdoors at night would place one in great danger.
Su Yu continued fleeing with his five elemental movement techniques. Unfortunately, his earth movement technique couldn't be used here. For some reason, he was unable to blend into the ground of the city. This city would probably be fatal to someone like Topsoil Spirit.
Despite Su Yu's desperate attempt to flee, the beam of light continued following him. The dark figure could no longer be seen. Only the beam of light was still stubbornly chasing after him.
The Mountainsea guard at the city gate sensed the commotion. When he looked over, he saw the black beam chasing after Su Yu. It hadn't been long since Su Yu entered the city, so he was still not that far from the city gate.
The guard's expression changed as he hurriedly sent a voice transmission, "Find an unoccupied building and hide inside. You're being chased by a beam of death light. The moment it marks you with its dense death qi, the death spirits of the city will not leave you alone anymore."
Su Yu was feeling very gloomy. He did nothing! He was minding his own business on the street when a jade talisman was tossed out by some random elk. He had never expected to encounter something like this right after entering the city. What in the world was happening?
Meanwhile, the guards were all looking at the small house. One of them asked, "Commander, is he dead?"
"I think I saw some of the death light entering the building."
"In that case, he's probably dead."
"Should we check? If he's really dead, we need to remove his corpse."
"..."
While the guards were talking, the Mountainsea looked at the building with a frown. He had high expectations of that human. He even thought that this human was a powerhouse on the rise. But that human was dead just like that?
Just how unlucky was that human? So many coincidences had landed on that human at the same time. There just happened to be someone trying to become a resident when he was walking by. The talisman had been thrown out when he was there. And the death spirit had also appeared to collect the talisman before he could leave.
Then again, that human was too new. Normally, one would run as fast as one could after seeing the bloodstained talisman. Meanwhile, that human had stood there blankly. He even tried to pry on the death spirit.
Some of the death light might have permeated into the building. The moment the human was touched by the death light, he would either die or be reduced into a cripple. Even if he survived, as someone touched by death, he would only attract more death spirits.
Encountering a death spirit in an ancient city was basically the same as dying. Sure, one could escape by leaving the city. But from then on, one would no longer be able to enter any ancient city as the death spirits would never stop looking for a marked person.
Even without the death spirits, one would still die a slow death with death qi in their body. The Mountainsea found his belief shaken repeatedly in a short span of time. First, he thought that the human was Su Yu. But that might not be true. Then, he thought that the human was a rising powerhouse. But the human caught the attention of a death spirit. What rise would happen with death looming?
Now that he had concluded that the human would die, would the human survive? How complicated. The Mountainsea shook his head and said nothing. That human was truly unlucky. The Mountainsea didn't even know what to say.
"We'll check when it's day."
The Mountainsea made the decision. Even as the city guards, it was also a bad idea for them to roam around during the night. If they remained at the gates, the death spirits would not go near them. But in the city, they might encounter the death spirits. And that would be troublesome to deal with.
The other guards nodded. In that case, they would wait until the night was over before checking.
***
Inside the small house, Su Yu was unable to find anything interesting. Was he really going to spend the night here? Wouldn't that be a waste of time?
"Death light..."
Su Yu muttered to himself. The death light was dangerous, but he knew the techniques of the immortal race. He also had heavenly source qi he could use to counter the death qi. Naturally, he would only be able to counter a small amount of death qi. If he was exposed to too much death qi, things might still get dangerous.
In that case, wouldn't immortals do well against the death spirits as long as they had enough heavenly source qi?
"The death light outside must have dispersed, right?"
Su Yu wanted to use his time to see more of the city. During his next visit, he might still need to challenge the main gate. That would waste a lot of time as well. More importantly, would he be able to challenge the gate a second time? What if he had to leave within three days just like everyone else during his next visit?
He still didn't know too much about the Allheaven Battlefield. In any case, wasting time was definitely not something he wanted to do. So what if things might get dangerous? It wasn't like he was completely helpless. Even his tribulation character had stopped pulsing. The danger must have passed.
If it wasn't for the fact that he didn't know the consequences of damaging the property here, he would have taken the building apart to see if he could discover anything new by now. He was also very curious if the buildings here were really indestructible.
"I need to get out there!"
Su Yu could not hold himself back. This was his first day here. How could he spend the night cooped in some shabby house? His success at removing the death qi had also given him some confidence to actually go outdoors.
He also wanted to verify if the death spirit would come after him again. He carefully opened the door before poking his hand outside. It would be much easier to remove the death qi if it only struck his hand instead of his entire body.