Cultivation: But Not a Game

"At the seven o’clock direction, 692 kilometers away, there’s a battle. On the human side, there are 162 people, and on the Horned Demon side, 489 people, evenly matched."

Su Yu and the three women rode Ao Run and rushed over. Upon seeing the level 185 true dragon, the opponents exclaimed and immediately sent over a hundred people to encircle it.

"Ten Thousand Arrow Barrage!"

Under the constraints of the Water Dao Law, water mana condensed into arrows, and in one breath, tens of thousands of water arrows were gathered and blasted forth.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sound of explosions filled the air, and in an instant, more than half of the hundred people were gone.

The power of the water arrows was not significant in themselves — merely the most basic water Magic. But under the augmentation of the Law of Water, their power reached tens of thousands. When tens of thousands of arrows shot forth, the unguarded Horned Demons were instantly annihilated.

The key was that this basic Magic had almost no cooldown. A large swath appeared with a flick of the hand, and after three rounds, these hundred Horned Demons were completely wiped out.

Then, he turned around, split into four heads with eight arms, and simultaneously cast spells with four heads, consuming over a hundred thousand Mana at once to gather four waves of a thousand Gui Water Divine Thunders and cast them out like a net.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

The Divine Thunder directly engulfed the Horned Demons, with elitist Gui Water constantly regenerating, flourishing in perpetuity.

After the Gui Water Elites dissipated, nearly five hundred Horned Demons were reduced to just a few quick-reacting Loose Immortals, who turned their heads and fled.

"Trying to run, no way!"

Xia Xiaokey, Cui Yunxian, and Yue Qingsi each pursued. Even Ao Run didn’t sit idle and chose a target to chase down. Su Yu didn’t move, seized the Sky-Splitting Divine Axe for a sweep, and the power of the axe shattered the skies and vanished into the void.

Twenty seconds later, hundreds of kilometers away, an axe strike slashed out of thin air, exploding a fleeing Horned Demon Loose Immortal, along with their treasures.

A minute later, the three women returned, their target already slain.

"At the one o’clock direction, 560 kilometers away, there’s a battle. On the human side, there are 11 people, and the Horned Demons have 120 people, with humans having the advantage."

Su Yu quickly passed through that area, seeing eleven Loose Immortals chasing over three hundred Horned Demons.

"At the twelve o’clock direction, 415 kilometers away, there’s a battle. Humans have 27 people, and Horned Demons have 55 people, evenly matched."

"This one, then."

Su Yu urged Ao Run to speed up and catch up.

With his cultivation level, dealing with these ordinary cultivators was like crushing dry weeds. Whether Qi Cultivation Cultivators or Foundation Establishment Cultivators, none were his match.

To him, ordinary Loose Immortals and Qi Cultivation Cultivators were equally easy.

By the end of the day, after moving back and forth for thousands of miles, he had accumulated more than three thousand achievements.

The next day continued in another sea region, continuing to steamroll and push forward, maintaining an accumulation speed of no less than one or two thousand, or as much as four or five thousand achievements per day.

After a week of intense farming, he accumulated nearly twenty thousand achievements and suddenly received a message from Cheng Shayu:

"You’ve accumulated enough now; you can go do big things, like venture into the depths of the Horned Demon territory."

Su Yu responded promptly, hearing the underlying message, and asked:

"Is there some unwritten rule?"

Cheng Shayu nodded and said:

"Yes, there are unwritten rules on both sides: King versus king, general versus general, soldier versus soldier. Your opponents are Loose Immortal masters of the same tier. If you continue to slaughter the Qi level, you won’t gain any more achievements."

"Hmm, so the maximum is twenty thousand, right?"

"Indeed, you can only farm one or two ten thousand. Afterward, you should seek out the opposing masters; if you keep at it, the opponent will also send experts to snipe you."

"I understand."

After closing the communication, Su Yu let out a light breath.

This was not unexpected, after all, without such restrictions, a group of experts farming heavily would make life tough for the ordinary cultivators on both sides.

"Never been to the depths of the Horned Demon territory—perfect time for a look."

Su Yu reopened the Sea Suppressing Realm Gate, letting the women return, and set off alone.

In the air, he switched on the panel, his gaze falling on the Jiezhi Concealment Skill and Invisibility Skill.

With the Sea-Suppressing Pearl’s promotion, it could accumulate 300 million Spiritual Qi experience and 300 points of Dao each day. During the previous three months of travel, he accumulated a total of 27 billion Spiritual Qi experience and 27,000 Dao points.

Consuming 11.2 billion Spiritual Qi experience and 17,000 Dao points, he upgraded both the Jiezhi Concealment Skill and Invisibility Technique to the highest fifth level.

After consuming so much, he still had 15.8 billion cultivation points and 62,300 Dao points left.

Closing the panel and activating the Jiezhi Concealment Technique, his figure disappeared as if stepping into another Jiezhi space.

Flying along the way, he occasionally saw passersby or ongoing battlefields. Both humans and Horned Demons were oblivious to his presence, the stealth effect exceedingly strong.

The only drawback was that in the stealth state, he couldn’t use light flight; he could only fly using mana.

Fortunately, his flight speed wasn’t slow, and within a few hours, he had already entered the border sea area between humans and Horned Demons.

Just as he was about to proceed further, he suddenly received a message from a stranger named Qi Zhongmou:

"Lieutenant Su Yu, apologies for the sudden visit, I hope for your forgiveness!"

Su Yu looked at the name in the communication and thought for a while without any recollection, so he curiously asked:

"Who might you be?"

"The All Stars Guild’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qi Zhongmou, is extending an invitation from our guild leader to various elite heroes and top experts from the Supreme Rankings to form a super alliance with over a hundred large guilds in the Southeast and Southern Sea regions to undertake a major action, and we would like to invite Lieutenant Su Yu to participate."

"What major action?"

"A joint raid on the Horned Demon’s outpost base along the Southeast sea border."

"That certainly is a major action."

Su Yu expressed a slight interest and asked:

"How confident are you? Although I haven’t been to the Horned Demon’s outpost base, it shouldn’t be worse than All Stars Island, right? Surely there are millions of Horned Demon players gathered there. If there’s no way to break the City Defense Array, even besieging for a hundred years wouldn’t take it down. How do you plan to dismantle the City Defense Array?"

Qi Zhongmou replied with a smile:

"Lieutenant Su Yu, there’s no need to worry about this issue; we definitely have a way to forcibly break the array."

Su Yu pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"Since you have a way to forcibly break the array, I wish you swift success!"

Being interested is one thing, but it doesn’t mean he wants to go.

Mainly because there’s no profit. In an operation involving multiple elite heroes and top experts, along with millions from over a hundred large guilds, the benefits of success would go to them. He wouldn’t gain much; no point in going for a bit of commission when he could better spend his efforts exploring the Horned Demon’s heartland.

With his strength and Dragon Transformation Great Divine Techniques, he could still accomplish great feats.

Qi Zhongmou naturally didn’t insist, smiling as he ended the communication, his smile instantly vanishing. A man beside him asked in surprise:

"He didn’t agree?"

He waved his hand dismissively and said:

"It’s no matter, just someone at the bottom of the Storm Rankings. Even if successfully transcending the tribulation, he’s only at the Foundation Establishment level now. Missing one won’t affect anything."

"Indeed, expedite invitations to those at the forefront of the Storm Rankings; the action will launch soon."

"Don’t worry."

Meanwhile, Su Yu had already crossed the boundary between the two races, entering the Horned Demon’s controlled sea region, where the number of Horned Demons visibly increased, frequently sighting groups heading to the border sea for battle.

After advancing another two hundred thousand kilometers into the Horned Demon sea, he encountered a large Horned Demon fleet.

Over twenty Tier Six Poison Dragon Battleships and more than a hundred Tier Five Rage Whale Ships, with players on and around them in numbers that blotted out the sky, the total scale likely not under five hundred thousand.

"Civilization warfare, what terrifying sights!"

This is just a local conflict, yet the players involved on both sides likely amount to several tens of millions. No telling how many will die in such a conflict.

Even if players can revive, the casualties remain staggering.

Su Yu certainly didn’t confront such a massive fleet, instead quietly watching them pass before continuing northward.

After flying for more than two days, he spotted a gigantic island ahead, with countless Horned Demon players in the sky and a harbor filled with large warships lining the island’s edge.

Sea Dragon Island, the outpost base of the Horned Demons in the Southeast sea region.

"If only this island could be destroyed, that would be perfect."

Su Yu opened his panel to check the military’s bounty list, where awards were listed for destroying Horned Demon outpost bases and other key bases and main cities. The bounty for destroying a Horned Demon outpost base was one million merit points, ten major merits, and one celestial merit.

This is the total reward, the same regardless of how many complete the bounty. If one person completes it, they receive the entire reward.

But despite the tempting reward, he couldn’t achieve it.

Just breaking through the city was daunting enough, let alone facing the wrath of the Guardian Earth Immortal inside afterward.

For such outpost bases, there’s definitely an Earth Immortal sitting in the city. Once breached, additional Horned Demon Earth Immortals would definitely come to support. Though Dragon Transformation isn’t afraid of Earth Immortals, defeating them would still be tough, especially since Dragon Transformation is temporary; by the time it’s over, escaping might not even be possible.

The only way to break the city would be to gather a large number of experts and hordes of followers for a frontal assault.

Even the All Stars Guild’s raid required numerous experts and hordes of followers.

Thus, Su Yu merely watched over the city for a while before quietly departing, flying toward another direction.

If crucial bases can’t be dealt with, perhaps he could try elsewhere.

He held a map of the entire Fallen Star Islands, which included maps of the Horned Demons, Fire Race, and Six-Eared Race, since everyone was in the same area, opposing one another. Experts had long been sent to scout areas thoroughly; likewise, the Horned Demons surely possessed detailed maps of human territories.

Continuing silently north, he soon crossed the Southeast sea region, entering the East Sea of the Fallen Star Islands, essentially the Horned Demon’s core hinterland in the Fallen Star Islands.

Here, player numbers remained dense, though no longer with the hurried, ferocious look found in conflict zones.

Of course, this didn’t mean there was no warfare here.

Su Yu knew that he wasn’t alone in sneaking in for sabotage; besides him, numerous human experts covertly infiltrated and sabotaged, just as Horned Demon experts did accordingly.

Half a day later, Su Yu appeared near Four Symbols City, the main city in the Horned Demon East Sea.

This main city comprised four islands, each over a thousand square kilometers, named Four Symbols Islands. Each island had its own independent City Defense Array, which could combine to form a super array.

As one of the Horned Demon’s main cities in the Fallen Star Islands, this city always had a Horned Demon Celestial Immortal guarding it, with dozens of Earth Immortals, and active players numbering in the billions.

If this city could be captured or destroyed, the reward would be ten million merits, a hundred major merits, and ten celestial merits.

But again, an individual couldn’t capture such a city.

As a main city, it was bound to have the highest-level teleportation arrays connecting to other main cities. Under attack, several Celestial Immortals and dozens of Earth Immortals would immediately come to aid. Just how would one fight against that?