Su Yu watched silently as Xia Huyou changed from furious to solemn, before settling into being cheerful. Su Yu was a smart man. He only needed to give Xia Huyou an opportunity to withdraw with grace from his rejection and the matter would end here. The scene of Xia Huyou dropping on one knee...was not what he wanted to see. He did not accept the blade of Xia. That was too heavy a blade for him to accept. He was also unwilling to take on such a burden. Accepting the blade was the same as accepting the burden. That was a heavy burden, one involving the fate of millions upon millions of people. That was not something he could bear. For him, that burden would transform into shackles, chaining him down. Thus, he rejected the blade. Su Yu walked forward and gave Xia Huyou a playful kick before saying, "Stop playing this game with me in the future. I don't like it." Xia Huyou smiled, "Don't worry. I understand. I merely did that to relieve the tension when I saw how serious you were. Hahaha! By the way, do you lack women? I have hundreds of wives now. You can pick a few if you want..." Xia Huyou said, "Haha! I was joking. Most of them are birds or some other beasts. Since you're not interested, so be it." After joking around for a bit, Xia Huyou said, "Let's get back to the topic. We're pretty serious about the holy land. Just accept the position for now. You don't even need to do anything unless you feel like it. With this, you will have an official authority to meddle in the affairs of humanity. You need to understand that there are no actual holy land leaders prior to this. Both Great Qin King and Great Zhou King were merely the joint leaders of those holy lands with the other Invincibles. But we are changing things now. Only one leader will be appointed." "Great Qin King and the others also intend to have all the Invincible descendants study there. In the future, an education at the holy land would be the minimum requirement for one to be appointed the prefect of a prefecture." Su Yu raised his brow. Xia Huyou grinned and said, "Naturally, that doesn't apply to me as I'm already a prefect. This will only apply to the future prefects. For example, with Prefect Qin Zhen's recent advancement into the Invincible Realm, either Qin Hao or Qin Fang would take over as the prefect. The chosen one would need to further his studies in the holy land before the appointment." "You can see that we're quite serious about this. Great Qin King even mentioned that no prefect would be appointed without the approval of the holy land." Su Yu blanked out. Noticing Su Yu's expression, Xia Huyou nodded, "It's still a proposal for now, but this is true. We're trying to centralize power under the holy land. "Great Qin King even proposed to give the holy land the authority to dismiss the prefects of the various prefectures. Naturally, that would require a complicated series of procedures, but this has never happened before." Xia Huyou exhaled and said, "Naturally, implementing all these suggestions won't be easy. It will be extremely difficult. But Great Qin King and the others are trying very hard. Upon success, the future holy land would become the center of humanity. Three major positions of each prefecture would require the holy land's approval before anyone could take office. Firstly, the director of the Talent Fostering Bureau. Secondly, the chief commander stationed in the Allheaven Battlefield. Thirdly, the director of the Governmental Affairs Bureau." For example, in Great Xia, people like Ji Hong, the general from either the Devil Subduing Army or the Martial Dragon Guard, and Administrator Hu would require the approval of the new holy land before they could be appointed. In short, the new holy land would have a lot of authority. Su Yu raised his brow and asked, "Would anyone even agree to this proposal? That's like handing the authority over the military, government, and education to the holy land." Xia Huyou said, "That would have been almost impossible in the past. But things are changing. Thus, it's still worth fighting for. If we were to succeed, the holy land would be the true ruler of the Human Realm. With that, truly unifying humanity would be possible as long as the holy land could keep the Invincibles under control." It was obvious Great Qin King and the others were trying their best to change things for the better, but it would be extremely difficult. That much was obvious. It would be so difficult, it might as well be impossible. Su Yu asked, "Is that all? Anything else? I don't care about the holy land. Is my old man's birthday the only reason you have to invite me back?" Xia Huyou appeared uncertain. "They should know that it's very dangerous for me to travel nowadays. Too many eyes are on me." Su Yu said, "This is even more so in the Human Realm. The guardians can't enter easily. I also can't release too much death qi in there lest I open a death tunnel accidentally. If I were to open one and failed to close it, well, you wouldn't like it that much. In short, my options are greatly limited in the Human Realm." Xia Huyou nodded and said, "I raised the issues of your safety to them as well. My great-grandfather will personally act as your guardian for the entirety of your trip. You know his strength. One needs to be a Daofuse to get through him and deal with you. If this isn't acceptable for you, we can even add Great Ming King on top. With the two of them working together, even Daofuses would have a hard time reaching you through them." Su Yu chuckled, "Are you trying to showcase your sincerity?" The two number twos of the previous holy lands were both volunteering to protect him. That was a great show of sincerity. But that only made Su Yu believe that this invitation wasn't so simple. They were making too big a deal out of it. This seemed pointless. Su Yu was already planning to return, but he had never planned to go too far. Rather, he wouldn't stray too far from the realm entrance. He was mainly aiming to go back for the Willpower Grotto. As for the matter concerning the traitor, there was no guarantee that humanity would trust him. Thus, it was pointless to worry about that for now. However, they were inviting him with such fanfare for his father's birthday celebration as the excuse. They claimed that the establishment of the new holy land was the real reason, but that wasn't something he could decide. Thus, this still felt pointless. Su Yu believed that Great Qin King's proposals wouldn't go through so easily. That was essentially the same as telling those Invincibles to hand over their power to someone else. The new holy land would wield all the power. Su Yu sank into thought. This was probably an idea of either Great Qin King or Great Zhou King. It wouldn't be Great Xia King as an invitation from him would merely be an invitation to visit Great Xia. It wouldn't involve something like a new holy land. Noticing that Su Yu was weighing the pros and cons of the matter, Xia Huyou said, "I have an idea. If you still don't feel safe, you can invite two individuals to go with you." Xia Huyou started making faces while staring at Su Yu's head. After blanking out momentarily, Su Yu said, "Stop messing around!" He knew what Xia Huyou was trying to say. Was Xia Huyou trying to die? Su Yu wondered if he would be the first the big furball and the female furball would eat upon inviting them. Xia Huyou said, "I'm serious! What is there to fear! With those two, you could go anywhere fearlessly! The guardians have their restrictions, but that isn't the case for these two." Su Yu sneered and said, "Any accident might lead to the disappearance of the entire Human Realm." Xia Huyou had no argument against that. True. He was talking about two Daofuses. They could easily wipe out humanity if nobody were there to stop them when they went crazy. Things wouldn't be so serious if it were any other Daofuse, but those two...were too unstable. At that thought, Xia Huyou shivered and said, "That was a joke!" But at that point, Su Yu was already rubbing his chin thoughtfully. This reminded him that he had never visited the two. If he could meet them...only one of them would be enough. With one of them by his side, he wouldn't even need to fear the sneak attacks of Daofuses. A lot of troubles were waiting for him in the future. With a Daofuse as his bodyguard, he would feel much safer. The old turtle might be strong, but the old turtle was also restricted by his duty. Furthermore, the old turtle couldn't stay in the Human Realm for long. Su Yu started imagining a scene: And that would be the end of the story. At that, Su Yu shivered. That was the sole impression he had of the two. They only cared about eating. Wow. That was too terrifying. He couldn't be careless about this. But...this was too tempting. If he could have the two accompanying him, he wouldn't even need to care about schemes and ploys anymore. A brute force of at least three Daofuses would be required before one could even hope to harm him. This was such a good idea. Xia Huyou asked, "So do you agree? Return and take a look around Nanyuan as well. That's your hometown. Check and see if you're happy with the reconstruction." Su Yu chuckled and said, "They sure love sending you as the envoy each time they need something from me. Fatty, are you not afraid that I would start getting suspicious of you as well?" Xia Huyou shrugged, sending ripples across his bountiful body as he said, "Others could easily suffer an unwanted fate here. Meanwhile, I would probably live even if I did mess things up." He grinned and said, "This only serves as proof of how good I am at judging people. I knew you would make it big when we first met so I befriended you. And look at the amount of power you wield now. I was right." Xia Huyou continued, "By the way, do you have any requests for your father's birthday celebration? Do you want to make it a private affair between fellow humans or do you want to make it international and open the invitation to some experts from other races?" Su Yu laughed and said, "Is this your idea? Would any of these non-human experts dare to attend the celebration? Maybe I would kill them randomly just because I was in a bad mood that day. My infamy alone would be enough to deter anyone from attending." "Not necessarily." Xia Huyou said, "Even in war, envoys are spared. Just invite some experts and showcase a willingness to make peace with the myriad races and reduce the tension. You could take this chance to showcase your love for peace. You wouldn't even need to invite the top experts. Just invite some geniuses like Zhan Wushuang, Mo Duona..." "Would they have the courage to come?" Xia Huyou said, "Why not? Yes, they are geniuses. But what would be the point of killing them? They could no longer pose you any threat. Killing them would only increase the hostility the myriad races held toward you and humanity." "With them around, they could even serve as good bargaining chips to deal with the myriad races when needed." "And why would they attend it?" Xia Huyou said, "To observe you closely and learn more about your negotiation with humanity. Information is very important as well." Su Yu asked, "Is this yet another idea of yours?" "No. It came from Great Qin King and the others." Xia Huyou said, "He hoped that you could invite some of your friends from the various races and change your image from that of a bloodthirsty butcher. We are going to do a proper celebration. All thirty-six prefectures will send their representatives to the celebration as well." Su Yu sank into thought. Would someone like Great Qin King hold a birthday celebration for his father? Great Qin King was so old he had probably forgotten his own age. Why would he care about something like a birthday? Su Yu exhaled and said, "Are they not afraid of things going wrong? Why are they making such a big deal out of this?" "I don't know." Xia Huyou said, "I'm really clueless about this. You can decide for yourself. As for the safety of your father, it will be guaranteed as well. My father and the others suggested that you return earlier and reunite with your father for real. During the day of the celebration, we would get a substitute to attend the celebration on behalf of your father." They were starting to counterfeit as well! Su Yu said, "Just what is Great Qin King trying to do? Are they planning to start a fight during the celebration?" "So who are we fighting?" Su Yu muttered doubtfully, "Isn't this the best setup for a fight? A fight against the traitor? The sole remaining traitor? Or are they planning to fight me?" "I don't know. That's top secret. They won't tell me anything. I already told you everything I know." "Fine." Su Yu exhaled and sank into thought. After a long while, he said, "I can't promise anything. Also, my father's birthday is still a few months away..." Follow current novᴇls on novel_fіre.net "Cough, cough. We will be celebrating his birthday in half a month." Su Yu was left speechless. So they had even changed the birth date of his father for this. "I'll think about this." Su Yu knew that he had to make full preparations before going. Should he...take a risk and meet the two great furballs? Perhaps they could discuss the education of their kid during the meeting. They probably cared only about the golden book. Or they might even know more about the golden book. He had a valid reason to visit them. He had received their help several times. It would be perfectly normal for him to visit them and express his gratitude. Su Yu kept convincing himself that this was the right thing to do. If there was a good chance that he could fool them into becoming his bodyguards, he would go. If that wasn't possible, he would sneak into their place in the future. After all, a meeting with the two furballs was simply too dangerous.