180 Divine Apertures, Little Fur Ball Advances

Inside the Baidao Pavilion. Su Yu was in high spirits. Even though it had taken quite some time, he had absorbed a substantial amount of willpower. It was just a bit tedious—far less straightforward than the Sea of Consciousness Mystic Realm, which laid everything wide open for you to draw upon freely. Here, you had to absorb while battling demon beasts. Of course, the Baidao Pavilion possessed one distinct advantage: no one disturbed you. If you wanted to absorb, the more beasts you killed, the more willpower you could take in. By the time he reached Floor 25, Su Yu stopped aggressively slaying his foes. Within the Baidao Pavilion, he realized more and more that clearing trials was not just a matter of mindless killing. At this moment, on Floor 25. Su Yu no longer attacked with his physical body. Instead, his divine characters erupted. His adversaries were no longer demon beasts. They were divine characters! Indeed, divine characters served as his foes. Fascinating! In the void, divine characters clashed against one another. This was already the Tengkong zone, so the opposing divine characters were Tier-2, just like Su Yu's. At this moment, characters battled across the empty space. Lightning, blood, flames, killing intent... Su Yu's divine characters separated, each engaging in its own duel. With a muffled boom, a divine character detonated. From the void, remnants of the divine character's lingering resonance drifted out. Su Yu grinned. How truly miraculous. He suspected that King Daming and the other founders had actually imbued an enormous quantity of divine characters into this pagoda. Now, as those characters were shattered, a copious amount of divine character resonance emanated. He absorbed a wisp; it felt completely authentic. His own divine characters genuinely showed improvement. "What a marvelous place!" Su Yu felt a twinge of regret. He shouldn't have spent so much time just slaying demon beasts on the lower floors. Purely absorbing willpower and yuanqi was nowhere near as satisfying as absorbing divine character resonance! This place provided different rewards based on the different capabilities you displayed. This was truly teaching according to one's aptitude! "I can't clear them too quickly..." Su Yu continued searching for the underlying rules. Stalling a floor did not work on ordinary levels, but one tactic did: dragging out the fight! Take it slow, shattering those divine characters bit by bit. That way, the Baidao Pavilion would continuously replenish their power, allowing them to maintain their combat effectiveness. Drag it out! Drag it out until the Baidao Pavilion ceased providing power and allowed the characters to be shattered. That was when efficiency was maximized. Su Yu's progression was exceptionally slow. There was no rush! Right now, he truly understood what the gatekeeping elder had meant. Clearing floors was not the goal; the true purpose was to extract what you needed from the various trials. Otherwise, even if you were an Invincible who flashed through all one hundred floors in an instant, what good would that do? Of course, an Invincible didn't need any of this anyway. *Bang!* Deprived of further energy replenishment, another divine character shattered. Su Yu wore an expression of regret, but soon muttered, "It seems the more divine characters I reveal, the more characters spawn to fight me. I should bring them all out so that I can encounter even more on the next floor!" Inside his sea of will, the little fur ball darted about excitedly. It wanted to eat too! "Stay inside! If you come out, the pavilion might classify me under the Beast Taming faction, and then I'll be in trouble!" If he was categorized under beast taming, it might stop giving him divine character trials, which would be a colossal loss. As for whatever benefits the beast taming trial offered, Su Yu couldn't care less. Right now, he needed divine character resonance and willpower. Those two were far more important to him. …… Meanwhile, in the outside world, Su Yu's progress was far too slow. Because he was so slow, he could not break into the top hundred, meaning his name did not appear on the rankings. At this moment, he had already reached Floor 25, yet his name had vanished from the display. Many onlookers were left speechless, having no clue which floor he was currently challenging! The bonfire gathering was still underway. Some students spotted Niu Baidao and called out, "Head Niu, which floor has Su Yu reached? Why doesn't he seem all that monstrous? Could his actual combat ability be lacking?" A true monster would have shot straight up through the floors, wouldn't they? Where was Su Yu's name? Why was it gone? Was he barely scraping through, still struggling inside? Niu Baidao rolled his eyes. He wished nothing more than for Su Yu's name to appear in the very first spot! That would prove the kid had cleared the floors with extreme speed and gained practically nothing, which would have been wonderful! Instead, that little bastard was stalling floor by floor. He had likely realized there was good stuff to be had and was busy shearing sheep. *Damn it!* The Baidao Pavilion was probably about to suffer heavy losses! Fortunately, the kid's realm wasn't high. If he were a Sun and Moon expert, he might have acted like another Fifth Generation and stripped the place completely bare. Niu Baidao said nothing more, turning his gaze toward Old Yun. Old Yun smiled, pulled a mirror from the void, swept his eyes over it, and chuckled. "He's on the twenty-fifth floor!" "The twenty-fifth floor!" A student clicked his tongue. "That's already around the third stage of the Tengkong Realm. In terms of strength, he's certainly formidable! But it feels... unworthy of such a grand reputation!" He had slain a Lingyun expert, hadn't he? Yet he was grinding away on the twenty-fifth floor even now! Old Yun couldn't even be bothered to respond. Just then, someone in the crowd snorted, "Why don't you try reaching the twenty-fifth floor yourself?" It was none other than Wu Lan. Having stepped out after retreating from the seventeenth floor, she was also wondering why Su Yu was so slow. Look at how fast she had been. Reaching the seventeenth floor meant her strength was not weak at all; among those in the Character Nurturing Realm, she was considered elite. Even so, Wu Lan remained tight-lipped. After all, Zhu Hongliang had ranked higher than her, which annoyed her greatly—that fat boy looked so clumsy, yet he had secured a higher ranking than hers! Even though the Baidao Pavilion's rankings did not strictly reflect pure martial prowess, it was an indisputable fact that he had beaten her. The student who had spoken gave an awkward chuckle and said no more, going back to eating and drinking. Forget it, Su Yu was secondary; the bonfire gathering was what mattered. For anyone else, Floor 25 would have stunned the crowd. For Su Yu, no one was surprised. Failing to reach Floor 25 would have been news; reaching it was nothing out of the ordinary. It was just strange how exceedingly slow he was! Meanwhile, Old Yun stroked his beard and murmured, "That little fellow certainly knows how to keep his temper in check. Very few young people have that kind of patience. Even when they know there are benefits to be had, reputation often carries more weight than practical gain." Taking so long to clear a floor meant staying off the rankings; if you weren't in the top hundred, no one could see your name. Who would be willing to put up with that? The more talented a genius was, the more they cared about vanity. Su Yu, on the other hand, dragged things out endlessly. Niu Baidao chuckled. "Forget it. The Baidao Pavilion was originally built to benefit our students and instructors anyway. It's good for him to polish himself properly. Let's wait and see. If this kid can truly reach Floor 40... then he genuinely possesses the bearing of an Invincible!" Back in the day, when a genius like Liu Wenyan emerged, no one had said he possessed the bearing of an Invincible; they only said he had hope of inheriting the mantle of the Fifth Generation. And the Fifth Generation was not an Invincible. Praising someone in the Character Nurturing Realm as possessing the bearing of an Invincible was usually just banter or outright mocking sarcasm. Yet Niu Baidao had no need for mockery; he meant it sincerely. If Su Yu truly reached Floor 40, he would indeed embody the demeanor of an Invincible. Even the Invincibles had not matched him in their youth! Old Yun nodded and said nothing more. Possessing the bearing of an Invincible did not guarantee entering the Invincible Realm. That was completely normal; being dazzling in one's youth did not necessarily translate to reaching the pinnacle in old age. …… At this moment, Su Yu couldn't care less about the outside world. Floor 26. Su Yu once again encountered a vast array of divine characters: mountains of blades, seas of fire, illusions, glaciers, shockwaves... Every sort of characteristic erupted! This served as an invaluable opportunity for Su Yu to witness all kinds of divine character traits firsthand. It offered immense reference value! Defend, fight slowly, wear them down, control the field... Su Yu manipulated his divine characters, pacing the battle deliberately. Drag it out, keep dragging it out, until the Baidao Pavilion replenished the divine characters' power once more. Though he had never visited the Great Xia Prefecture's Battle Demon Arena, Su Yu felt that the Baidao Pavilion synthesized the effects of multiple mystic realms: the Battle Demon Arena, the Sea of Consciousness Mystic Realm, and even parts of the yuanqi secret realm. A supreme treasure! The thought crossed Su Yu's mind once again. This place was truly a magnificent treasure. *Bang!* Another divine character shattered, allowing Su Yu to absorb a generous amount of resonance. Neither his "Calamity" nor his "Beast" character had reached Tier-2 yet, so Su Yu focused primarily on nurturing these two. Absorb! After absorbing continuously across several floors, the intangible "Beast" character hovering in the void suddenly shifted. Su Yu could sense the inner space within the character expanding, its resilience dramatically strengthening. A Tier-2 divine character! This was a true harvest! Wasn't this vastly better than any meaningless ranking? What did rankings matter? Having a divine character enter Tier-2 and opening several divine apertures—that was tangible progress. Not only that, Su Yu even pulled out a text of will and began reading it! *Outline a new divine character for me!* The more divine characters he displayed, the more would appear on the next floor. If he outlined one right now, he could seize the chance to absorb resonance and advance it immediately! What a golden opportunity! He absolutely could not let this slip by! The martial technique *Time*, which had nearly caused a disturbance in the yuanqi secret realm, had little impact here. The Baidao Pavilion was far sturdier than a yuanqi secret realm; it could accommodate even Invincibles, whereas an Invincible entering a yuanqi secret realm would undoubtedly cause it to collapse. "Give me a spatial divine character!" Su Yu prayed silently. A storage ring was good, but it could be stolen or lost. How could it compare to a divine character? He had read *Time* countless times; why couldn't he comprehend a divine character related to space or time? Reading while directing his divine characters in battle, Su Yu was thoroughly enjoying himself. The pressure on the twenty-something floors was not overly taxing for him. His willpower was extraordinarily potent. With over a hundred divine apertures unlocked, he was constantly absorbing massive quantities of willpower to temper himself and reinforce his sea of will, not lagging behind an eighth- or ninth-stage Tengkong in the slightest. Once he opened all 180, he would definitely rival a Lingyun expert. Opening *Time*, Su Yu read with deep focus, seeking comprehension. Ever since mastering the third tier of *Time*, his appreciation for the technique had declined considerably. Today, looking at it anew, he vaguely perceived fresh insights. *Time* had an awe-inspiring name, yet Su Yu had previously felt it was merely average. Looking at it today, however... he faintly realized that he had likely missed the core point. "*Time*... this name wasn't chosen for nothing. I only cared about the explosive power of the apertures, ignoring their unique nature. It's just like the Soul Devour Art: thirty-six apertures in the Soul Devour Art aren't anything special on their own, but being able to corrode the opponent's willpower is the true crux, the secret behind its might!" "*Time* links over a hundred apertures. The key lies in accelerating or slowing down time—slowing an enemy's movements while speeding up your own! That is the true profound mystery of Time!" Su Yu discovered that reading amidst battle actually made his mind sharper! The "Fire" character surged, incinerating the divine character resonance to help him comprehend and perceive at an even deeper level. At this moment, Su Yu was entirely engrossed. Gradually, a divine character took shape! It was not the spatial character he had dreamed of, but rather the character "Slow." The divine character rapidly formed. Originating from the text of will of an Invincible, the moment it solidified, it stood at the pinnacle of Tier-1. "Slow!" Su Yu's eyes flickered. The instant the character formed, he carefully sensed it, and his heart trembled once more. Jin Sheng had been right: as a human's divine characters grew in number, each addition made the existing characters slightly stronger. Because he was paying exceptionally close attention right now, he distinctly felt his other divine characters growing marginally more potent. The change was subtle, but he definitely felt it! As soon as the "Slow" character emerged, Su Yu also observed its special property. Across the void, the movements of the opposing divine characters visibly slowed down. The sea of flames lost some of its blistering rush, and the glaciers formed far less rapidly! His eleventh divine character had formed! "Fascinating!" Su Yu suddenly moved, kicking outward. The kick appeared slow, yet the divine character before him failed to evade; its speed was hindered, and with a light kick from Su Yu, it detonated! Time! Su Yu smiled. He seemed to have grasped a sliver of the true essence of *Time*! This technique was truly intriguing. It wasn't merely about high explosive power. A martial technique bearing such special effects was likely no weaker than the Heaven-Cleaving Blade; it simply required fewer apertures. Ever since obtaining the Xia family's Heaven-Cleaving Blade, he hadn't placed much emphasis on *Time*. "*Time*... King Miecan's martial technique." Hong Tan had told him that this technique was forged by an Invincible expert named King Miecan, and it was exceedingly powerful. …… At the very moment Su Yu brought out *Time* once more and comprehended a divine character, far away in the Twin Saints Prefecture, within the War God Hall, atop the peak of War God Mountain, King Miecan was instructing his disciple. He suddenly turned his head south, raising an eyebrow. *Time* had been opened again, and someone seemed to have gained an insight—further to the south! Previously, it had seemed to be within the Great Xia Prefecture. Today, it appeared to be in the Great Ming Prefecture. His eyes flickered slightly. Who could it be? Travel between Great Xia and Great Ming wasn't uncommon, but recently, a fairly famous youth had journeyed from Great Xia to Great Ming: a fellow named Su Yu! "Su Yu..." King Miecan raised an eyebrow. Could that kid have gotten his hands on *Time*? It was hard to say! Many people traveled between Great Ming and Great Xia; it might not be Su Yu. He hadn't paid much attention to Su Yu, only vaguely hearing the name. He didn't care whether the kid knew *Time* or not. He had heard, however, that the boy knew the Xia family's Heaven-Cleaving Blade. He curled his lip. The Xia family's Heaven-Cleaving Blade? What was that worth? King Daxia simply relied on his brute strength, nothing more than a reckless brute. How could his blade compare to the subtlety of *Time*? "Master!" The youth who was also practicing *Time* suddenly called out, "Master, what are you mumbling about?" King Miecan said casually, "Nothing. Focus on your cultivation! Don't end up like your senior brother—lacking skill, venturing into the Star Astral Mansion, only to be hacked to death!" The youth nodded heavily. "I won't! If I go to the Star Astral Mansion, I will definitely bring honor to Master!" King Miecan replied indifferently, "Staying alive comes first! *Time* is the very essence of my martial path; its lethality and speed are both peerless. At its pinnacle, each step spans an epoch! Distance can be closed, but can anyone overtake the passage of time? This is the ultimate art of survival. Alas... very few understand it!" No worthy successor! His technique was never meant purely for raw devastation. Forcing a comparison with the Xia family's Heaven-Cleaving Blade in sheer destructive power would naturally leave it looking inferior, but that was never the point of *Time*. Take a single step, and the years cycle. No matter how fast or explosive your opponent is, can they strike me as I drift with the flow of time? I, King Miecan, beat the Dragon Silkworm King until he cowers inside his Dragon Silkworm Realm all day—did I earn that reputation on empty boasts? The middle-aged expert sighed with emotion, then smiled. "Study hard. Someone out there has learned my *Time* and seems to have grasped some insight. If you don't apply yourself and end up outperformed by an outsider, it will be an absolute disgrace!" "Master, who is it?" "How should I know? Someone who acquired it by chance. If you encounter them in the future, you can test their depth." With that, King Miecan dropped the subject. His technique had spread into the world; if he crossed paths with the practitioner and found them agreeable, they might become an informal master and disciple. If not, they would go their separate ways. There was no need to take it too seriously. The youth felt curious, but asked no further and resumed his practice. The Star Astral Mansion—that was his upcoming goal. …… "Interesting!" By now, Su Yu had reached Floor 29. His "Calamity" character had been nurtured to Tier-2. Aside from the newly formed "Slow" character, all ten of his other divine characters had attained Tier-2. The "Slow" character had also given Su Yu profound insights. Sometimes, what appears slow is not truly slow. What looks slow to your eyes does not mean it is slow to your enemy. If you diminish an enemy's speed until they cannot match your rhythm, that is true speed! At this moment, Su Yu was thoroughly amused. The "Slow" character eroded the opponent's speed, while the little hammer came down with a solid strike, compressing the pavilion's divine character until it was beaten flat! The Mind Expansion Hammer! The purpose of this hammer was not to kill or shatter divine characters, but to compress them! After compressing it, Su Yu noticed that after a brief moment, the pavilion's divine character grew slightly stronger, and the pavilion replenished it with even more energy! Because the flattened character had been compressed by the Mind Expansion Hammer! "This is too amusing!" Su Yu seemed to have discovered a brand-new toy, indulging himself without end. *Could I keep hammering this divine character until it reaches Tier-3?* And not just divine characters! Su Yu even wondered: *If I keep hitting the little fur ball with this hammer, could I hammer it into an advancement?* The little hammer compressed the sea of will and willpower. When the sea of will and willpower were sufficiently stable, it could be used on divine characters, providing immense aid by compressing and solidifying their tier. Furthermore, it helped purge impurities. The little fur ball had devoured so many divine characters; had it fully digested them all? Were there lingering impurities? "Little fur ball, do you ever get indigestion from absorbing divine characters?" "Huh?" Inside his sea of will, the little fur ball transmitted, "What's that?" "Meaning you haven't finished eating, and some junk is left over. Understand?" "A tiny bit..." "No problem. Later, I'll give you a few hundred hammer strikes to ensure you digest everything thoroughly!" "Dizzy!" "Don't be scared! After the dizziness comes absolute bliss. Didn't you feel it last time I gave you a few taps?" The little fur ball seemed to ponder this for a while before replying, "Okay!" There was some truth to that. Once the dizziness passed, it really did feel wonderful. So comfortable! Su Yu enjoyed himself immensely, and before he knew it... he reached Floor 30. He had completely smashed all the divine characters on the previous floor, and the pavilion ceased replenishing them. What a pity! The Baidao Pavilion lacked perseverance; it should have kept stalemating with him. He might not have outlasted it, after all. He now understood the situation Teacher Zhao Li had described: *I might not overpower you in raw might, but I can outlast you through sheer endurance!* Su Yu's willpower was far more durable than that of an ordinary Tengkong cultivator. He had many divine apertures, granting rapid recovery. His willpower was heavily compressed, giving him immense foundational reserves. Floor 30 marked the threshold into the late stages of the Tengkong Realm. On this floor, there was only a single divine character! Yet it was an advanced Tier-2 divine character! Its sole characteristic also intrigued Su Yu greatly: vibration! A single clash! Su Yu's divine characters trembled, and he himself shook uncontrollably! Shaking without pause! Within the space, Su Yu trembled continuously, and his divine characters shuddered alongside him. It reminded him of the days when he had been struck by the Mind Expansion Hammer, left trembling all over! This divine character was fascinating! If he could outline one like this, a single strike would make the enemy's divine characters, willpower, and sea of will all vibrate violently. Paired with the hammer, the two effects would stack, affecting even the physical body. On this floor, Su Yu continued to expend a great deal of time. He originally wanted to stall the floor, but found that he wasn't given the opportunity. The chance to stall seemed to appear only at the absolute limits of each cultivation realm! Even so, his gains remained massive! This floor supplied Su Yu with willpower for three full hours, and when the character shattered, it provided him with a tremendous amount of resonance. The "Slow" character began advancing toward Tier-2. Meanwhile, the number of opened divine apertures reached an astonishing 120. That was five more than when he had first entered. This was already breathtaking! …… Outside, a full day and night had passed. It was now the morning of the thirteenth. The bonfire gathering had dispersed! Some students had already left to attend to their duties. However, a crowd remained. Having lounged through the night, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Holy crap, he finally reached Floor 30!" Every tenth floor had fewer challengers listed. At this moment, not many names occupied the thirtieth floor. Su Yu had finally arrived, leaving his name on the record. The Baidao Pavilion only recorded a challenger's highest cleared floor. For instance, if Floor 100 were ever filled with a hundred people and Ye Batian was displaced by them, his name would vanish. Or if Ye Batian had broken through to the Invincible Realm and traversed the pagoda again, his name would automatically be removed. Evidently, however, Ye Batian's name would never disappear. As for Zhou Polong on Floor 99, if he reached the Invincible Realm and climbed the pagoda once more, his name would vanish. Floor 30 was the watershed for the seventh stage of the Tengkong Realm. Even factoring in the lingering names of older seniors who no longer challenged the tower, Su Yu still managed to place on the list. Once he reached Floor 30, the onlookers' interest was reignited. Before long, more people gathered, laughing as they called out, "Anyone want to place a bet? I bet Su Yu can reach Floor 38!" "I say Floor 35 is his absolute limit! Hasn't he exhausted himself by now?" "He definitely expended a massive amount of energy!" "……" Conversations buzzed, and wagers were quickly laid. The Great Xia Prefecture preferred betting merit points, but the Great Ming Prefecture was different. Few bet merit points; instead, their stakes were wildly varied! Those who lost had to run around naked, jump into rivers, cross-dress... all sorts of penalties were proposed. Not far away, atop a pavilion balcony, Niu Baidao was no longer waiting at the foot of the Baidao Pavilion, having relocated here instead. Within the pavilion, several elders were sipping tea and enjoying breakfast. One elder smiled and asked, "Old Niu, which floor do you think he can reach?" "Floor 40!" Niu Baidao stated with absolute certainty, "He's managed to drag things out this long. Everyone knows it isn't because he's exhausted; I'd say his gains have been so massive that he might not have expended much of anything at all." "I wager Floor 39. Floor 40 will probably be too difficult!" "Care to make a bet?" Niu Baidao grinned. "Old Wang, let's bet. If you lose, go to the All-Heavens Battlefield and kill a Sun and Moon expert, or let yourself get killed so I can collect your divine characters. I bet your characters could truly evolve into a Sea of Consciousness Mystic Realm!" "Get lost!" The elder laughed and cursed, then quickly added, "Let's not bet on that; that's pointless! If Su Yu truly reaches Floor 40, I'll gift him something good—my copy of the *Unity Art*. It might provide him with some insights." The *Unity Art* was Vice Head Wang's personal, specialized cultivation method. While not a true spirit-merging technique, it aided in merging divine apertures together, serving as a supplementary method. Niu Baidao laughed softly. "You certainly know how to pick a gift. In our eyes, it isn't worth much, but for that kid, it might spark some inspiration. As for his ability to derive techniques, I suspect it isn't entirely due to some ancient ruin or inheritance. In his aperture fusion method, I saw shadows of Wen Zhong's *Aperture Fusion Art*. Don't tell me the ancients already knew the *Aperture Fusion Art*. That kid must have added a great deal of his own insights. Even without an inheritance, I doubt his achievements would be any lower." The elders nodded. In truth, they had seen it as well. Outside, some claimed that Su Yu merely relied on an ancient inheritance, boasting that they could do the same in his shoes... pure nonsense. The weak could not perceive the truth, but the strong could discern quite a bit. The group said no more, sipping their tea as they continued watching. Meanwhile, Su Yu advanced with absolute steadiness. At a remarkably sluggish pace, his name vanished from Floor 30's list. He did not emerge, nor did he leave his name on the floors above, maintaining an exceedingly slow crawl forward. …… Floor 39. The "Slow" character had already advanced to Tier-2! At this moment, what Su Yu displayed was no longer divine character prowess, but raw combat power. He wanted to encounter demon beasts on the next floor so he could stall the trial once more. Right now, he was facing a ninth-stage Tengkong demon beast. It looked somewhat familiar, appearing to be a member of the top hundred races. No, it was very familiar. Mountain-Breaking Strike! A member of the Mountain-Breaking Ox race! His opponent was powerful, but Su Yu was by no means weak. His divine character battle technique flared—a battle technique woven from eleven characters, all of which were Tier-2, possessing terrifying lethality. As various characteristics erupted, the Mountain-Breaking Ox's speed was repeatedly suppressed. Meanwhile, Su Yu's physical body was exceptionally robust. After battling for more than ten minutes, he held back no longer, obliterating the beast's head with a single strike. *Rumble!* The Mountain-Breaking Ox exploded, releasing a vast tide of yuanqi and willpower. Su Yu continued opening divine apertures, bringing his total to 122. Once he finished absorbing the energy, Floor 40 arrived moments later. The moment he stepped in, a fierce gale rushed at him! Su Yu's mind tightened! Lingyun! Leaping into the air to evade, he looked closely and found it familiar as well. "A White Civet?" Su Yu was surprised! Naturally, he recognized this race. The Wen Tan Research Institute had previously held one, though he had left it behind for Wu Jia, just as he had left the Fire Crow with Chen Yong. This race belonged to the Civilization Master lineage and possessed one defining trait: speed! A first-stage Lingyun White Civet likely boasted speed comparable to a third- or fourth-stage Lingyun. Even a genuine Lingyun cultivator would find it troublesome to face! Yet Su Yu smiled. As luck would have it, he had just mastered the "Slow" character. Otherwise, encountering a White Civet would have posed a tremendous threat. Even with great combat power, if his speed were too slow to keep up, he would be slaughtered mercilessly. Now, however, he had freshly acquired insights into *Time* and outlined the "Slow" character, making this the perfect sparring partner to hone his battle techniques. Within the space, two silhouettes clashed. Su Yu's movements were slow, but the White Civet's speed was repeatedly dragged down by his technique! The Mind Expansion Hammer, the "Slow" character, the illusion of the "Blood" character, the lightning of the "Thunder" character, the dread of the "Kill" character, the surging spirit of the "Battle" character... Every divine character played its role. Only at this moment did Su Yu truly resemble a Civilization Master. He refrained from using the Heaven-Cleaving Blade, relying instead on the *Time* battle technique. His kicks turned the void into a temporal domain where years seemed to cycle, repeatedly forcing the elusive White Civet to reveal its form! After eight minutes of combat, Su Yu let out a thunderous shout and slashed outward! Blade radiance erupted! *Pfft!* The White Civet's head was severed, while Su Yu sustained several bloody gashes from its claws. A crystal fragment shot away, but Su Yu's Mind Expansion Hammer had long been waiting. *Clang!* The hammer smashed the fragment down. Su Yu was overjoyed. The time to stall the floor had arrived once more. He could remain on this floor for four hours. Furthermore, the willpower released here did not drift out once every five minutes, but rather a wisp every single minute, all of it at the Lingyun intensity. Su Yu was ecstatic! *Holy crap!* A fortune! Its purity surpassed even that of the Sea of Consciousness Mystic Realm, and its intensity was vastly superior. Absorb! Absorb frantically! A single wisp of Lingyun-grade willpower was insufficient to open a divine aperture, but five wisps were roughly enough. Every five minutes, Su Yu could open a divine aperture. The speed was staggering! Just then, the little fur ball slipped out stealthily from his sea of will. It wanted to absorb as well! So fragrant! Absorb together! Absorb like mad! Over the course of an hour, Su Yu failed to open twelve apertures, but he managed a staggering eight. Glancing at the little fur ball furtively gobbling down willpower, he couldn't be bothered to scold it. They would just stall a bit longer! This time, he felt confident he could open all 180 divine apertures. Floor 40 was something only a monster who could slay a Lingyun expert from the Tengkong Realm could clear. As for actual Lingyun cultivators... Su Yu wasn't sure if any had ever stalled on Floor 40. Even if they had, willpower didn't necessarily offer them immense benefits, as their capacity would eventually saturate. Opening apertures at the Lingyun Realm was far from simple; it was nowhere near as easy as in the Character Nurturing Realm. The stronger one became, the harder it was to open apertures. For a Lingyun expert, stalling this floor held limited value. For him, however, the value was astronomical. *Maybe I can resolve the little fur ball's advancement right here!* Su Yu mused. Floor 40 offered Lingyun-tier energy; storing extra willpower might just push the little fellow into advancing, provided he had opened nearly all his apertures first. Right now, Su Yu had opened 130 divine apertures, leaving fifty to go. Even if he opened only five per hour as the difficulty increased later on, it would take around ten hours—roughly three full cycles. Three cycles shouldn't trigger any unexpected changes, right? Afterward, he could accumulate enough willpower for the little fur ball to trigger its advancement. In the blink of an eye, nearly four hours had passed. By this point, Su Yu had opened a whopping 150 divine apertures, advancing at a breathtaking pace! …… Outside, Old Yun's face twitched. *Damn it!* How much willpower had this kid drained? At this moment, the Baidao Pavilion seemed faintly dimmed. That shouldn't be happening! This place could supply Sun and Moon experts for an extended period. Su Yu was merely in the Character Nurturing Realm; just how much wool had he managed to shear? Five hours, six hours... Old Yun's expression progressively shifted. Damn it all, even a Lingyun expert wouldn't absorb this much! This was on par with a Shanhai expert recklessly gorging on willpower! Eight hours! This was already the third round, wasn't it? That kid still hadn't come out! By now, the second Lingyun demon beast should have spawned, shouldn't it? Even that couldn't force you out? By this time, dusk had fallen. The bonfire gathering resumed! Zhu Hongliang and the others were still present, clicking their tongues in disbelief. "What a god! He's been inside for over thirty hours and is still stalling on Floor 40! Isn't Floor 40 tuned to Lingyun-level pressure? Did that guy break through inside?" He suspected Su Yu might have broken through to the Tengkong Realm! It was highly probable! That would explain everything. Su Yu was already a genius; if he broke through to the Tengkong Realm, he could probably hold his own against an early Lingyun demon beast for a while. The list for Floor 40 was sparse. Su Yu's name would appear for several hours, then vanish for several hours. Yet this trial did not end after the three or four rounds they anticipated. In the blink of an eye, it was February 14. By morning, a full twenty hours had elapsed since Su Yu entered Floor 40. At this point, Niu Baidao and several elders arrived on the scene. Their expressions were bizarre! What in the world was Su Yu doing? Twenty hours meant six full rounds from start to finish! By now, three Lingyun demon beasts should have spawned simultaneously! Could that guy still hold out? A few more hours passed. Twenty-four hours—that would mean four beasts! He was still enduring. What was he doing? Did he really need that much willpower? …… At this very moment, inside the Baidao Pavilion, Su Yu roared, "Fur ball, hold one of them off for me!" Four White Civets surrounded him! Su Yu was already covered in blood. Right now, the willpower within the space was terrifyingly dense. Su Yu hadn't absorbed any for a long time, saving it all to fuel the little fur ball's breakthrough. The little fur ball also knew this feast was intended for itself. At this moment, it exerted every ounce of its strength, entangling itself with one of the White Civets! The other three White Civets moved with blistering speed. With a tear, claws slashed a bloody gouge across Su Yu's cheek. The yuanqi within Su Yu's physical body violently detonated, blasting the attacker away with a thunderous roar! The little hammer now packed devastating might! After all this time, he had finally opened all 180 divine apertures. However, they had not yet been fully connected. Only three sets of techniques were fully linked, while the remaining two were not. Even so, Su Yu's current strength was terrifying. His divine character battle technique erupted! The cultural weapon, which had not yet reached the Profound rank, faintly showed signs of being unable to bear the immense force. With a sharp whistle, it pierced through the void, its characteristics bursting forth to impale a White Civet with a tremendous boom! "Forcing my hand, are you!" Su Yu gritted his teeth, initiating the link for the fourth cultural art. A total of 144 divine apertures blazed with dazzling radiance as the circulation path shifted! Unfathomable power! At this moment, he could barely suppress his cultivation; he was on the verge of breaking through into the Tengkong Realm at any second! It was simply too overwhelming! His willpower was astoundingly potent! Yet Su Yu refused to break through now. Why rush? He had to cast his body first before advancing. It would be best to finalize his body-casting technique beforehand so that when his Civilization Master cultivation stepped into the Tengkong Realm, his physical body could cross over simultaneously, allowing him to cast his body rapidly. He still needed some time to secure heavenly origin qi. As for divine characters... that wasn't a major issue. Eleven divine characters were barely sufficient. Splitting them apart to reassemble his battle technique and advancing with eleven characters would achieve the same result. All eleven might even step into Tier-3. Only then would he be truly formidable. Su Yu went all out. Yuan apertures detonated, divine apertures blazed, and four sets of arts merged together. The Mind Expansion Hammer descended with boundless force, smashing another White Civet into obliteration with a single blow! On the other side, the little fur ball squeaked and chattered excitedly, flitting about like a ghost! With a crunch, it bit through the White Civet's illusory divine character. The White Civet race were Civilization Masters, and the pavilion's simulation was remarkably authentic. In the blink of an eye, three of the four White Civets were slain. The one facing the little fur ball was drained of energy by its relentless devouring. Only a single beast remained, and Su Yu let out a massive breath of relief! Success! Yet right at that moment, Su Yu's expression changed, and he cursed under his breath! "Stupid fur ball! It's over—you didn't intercept the fragment!" Everything was ruined! Because the fragment had not been intercepted, he could no longer stall the trial. After this round, he would be forced to leave within four hours. Then again, if five beasts had spawned, Su Yu most likely wouldn't have been able to withstand them anyway. In a flash, he dispatched the final White Civet. Moments later, willpower once again flooded the void. Su Yu looked at the little fur ball, which blinked its large eyes back at him. Su Yu ground his teeth and said, "If you fail to advance, or if you run away after advancing, I'll never let you off!" Such a rich, dense sea of willpower made even Su Yu's heart ache with temptation! Slaying so many White Civets back and forth had all ended up benefiting this little fellow. "Won't run! Eat yummy stuff!" The little fur ball responded in a hurry! Su Yu snorted. Eat, my foot—advancing was what truly mattered. Gritting his teeth, he manifested his "Fire" character. It blazed with brilliant light, and the little fur ball stared with wide, longing eyes. *So fragrant!* "Come on, eat! Leave me a sliver of the root! Once you're done, we'll keep climbing the floors and replenish it!" The little fur ball lunged forward instantly. Just as Su Yu opened his mouth to speak, his vision blurred, and he cursed aloud, "Damn it, spit some back out! Hurry, even just a tiny root!" *Damn it!* It had swallowed the entire thing! A Tier-2 divine character was far too easy for the little fur ball to devour. With Su Yu offering no resistance, it had gulped it down in an instant, before Su Yu could even react. At this moment, Su Yu truly empathized with the sorrow his future opponents would feel. The moment a divine character was deployed... it was gone! Anyone would cough up blood from pure grief! Reluctant though it was, the little fur ball obediently spat out a tiny... shard! Su Yu's heart bled. How long would it take to restore this character? No, he had to keep climbing the floors later! At the very least, he had to restore this divine character! Otherwise, life would be unlivable! He was going to shear this Baidao Pavilion right down to the skin! The next instant, a transformation began to ripple across the little fur ball's body. It looked as though a flame were roasting it from within! "So yummy..." The little fur ball squeaked, "I'm going to eat all of this now..." "Eat!" Su Yu barked. All this willpower was meant for it anyway. It had better advance after eating its fill! That was the only way to justify all the grueling battles he had fought here—couldn't it see he was covered in wounds? Having received the command, the little fur ball absorbed with frantic haste! The vast ocean of willpower was vacuumed clean in the blink of an eye. "Hit me with that thing..." Su Yu understood instantly! The next moment, he raised the Mind Expansion Hammer and began pounding the little fur ball! *Bang! Bang! Bang!* Again and again, without pause! …… At that exact moment, in the outside world, Niu Baidao sucked in a sharp breath of cold air! *Damn it!* Four Lingyun beasts had been wiped out? What kind of freak was Su Yu?! What was more, an enormous quantity of willpower had been drained in a single instant, causing the entire Baidao Pavilion to visibly dim for a moment. Between Su Yu and the little fur ball, the sheer volume they had absorbed was no less than what a Sun and Moon expert would consume. When a Sun and Moon expert absorbed energy, they stopped once they were full. Su Yu, on the other hand, swallowed everything into a bottomless pit—no amount was ever enough! "What a catastrophic loss!" Niu Baidao was deeply distressed. Old Yun was nursing a headache as well. "That's comparable to the absorption of someone newly entered into the Sun and Moon Realm. That kid... is he really still in the Character Nurturing Realm?" What would happen once he reached the Tengkong or Lingyun Realm? "How about we let this be the only time, and ban him from entering ever again?" Old Yun suggested. Niu Baidao ignored him. It might not have been Su Yu alone doing the absorbing; could it be that little creature of his? That rascally kid Su Yu was truly ruthless! Treating the Baidao Pavilion like a free nutrient dispenser! Even as he cursed inwardly, curiosity burned within him: what about Su Yu himself? How many divine apertures had he opened? Had he broken through to the Tengkong Realm? Could he still hold it back? If that fellow truly entered the Tengkong Realm, his strength would be terrifying beyond belief. …… Meanwhile, Su Yu had no attention to spare for the outside world. The little hammer hammered down relentlessly on the little fur ball! Dazed and dizzy, the little fur ball blazed with radiant firelight, showing clear signs of an impending breakthrough. This little fellow had consumed far too much willpower and divine character resonance—vastly more than Su Yu himself. If it still didn't advance, Su Yu felt he would simply go broke trying to keep it fed!