Tengkong

On the Dragon Battle Platform, winds howled and clouds surged. Reflections of fiery light flickered! Yet Su Yu felt his consciousness grow groggy and dazed. It was just like when he had opened his first divine aperture: his awareness seemed to detach from his physical body, drifting in the air, looking down upon his own form. Astral winds tore past! Flames scorched! A wave of sharp pain washed over Su Yu's consciousness, leaving him speechless. Was this an anomaly? Bullshit! No, this was heavenly punishment! This was no bestowal of blessings—it was trying to claim his life! Fortunately, Su Yu was far from weak. His willpower, tempered by one hundred and eighty divine apertures, was exceptionally potent. Being repeatedly killed night after night in his past dreams had forged an unyielding resilience, and the relentless forging and hammering of the Expanding Will Art had rendered his willpower harder than steel. At this moment, streaks of flame cascaded down from the void! They sought to destroy his sea of will! Su Yu's consciousness rushed back into his flesh. An instant later, his eyes snapped open. The apertures within them activated, his eyes blazing like the sun and moon, unleashing a brilliant, dazzling radiance! Heaven Yuan Qi was drawn continuously into his form, casting his physical body! Meanwhile, his sea of will churned violently, tossed in turmoil! Above, the anomalous phenomenon expanded further—ten meters, twenty meters... Across the entire Dragon Battle Platform, water and fire proliferated. Zhu Tiandao's voice transmitted into his ears: "How is it going? What's happening? Do you need to stop?" "No!" Su Yu did not stop. At this moment, his one hundred and eighty divine apertures flared continuously, grinding away the onslaught of water and fire. His little hammer pounded with thunderous clangs—this was an assault on his will! These waters and fires were assailing his willpower. Yet with every spark shattered, Su Yu's willpower grew slightly stronger. Astral winds tore across! They were smashed to pieces by the little hammer, and gradually, within his sea of will, a "Wind" divine character took shape! Heavenly water surged in, only to be hammered apart into fragments. As the water flowed through his sea of will, the outline of a "Water" divine character was rapidly traced! This was an opportunity! It was also a disaster! Had his willpower been any weaker, he would have been killed by these forces. Without the Expanding Will Art, he might not have been able to grind them down. But right now, they could not overcome him! And he still had a trump card! The stray wisps of heavenly water and astral wind were instantly devoured by the little fur ball! These puny forces could not stop him! His willpower steadily expanded! Signs of corporeal manifestation appeared! The earth trembled, shaking Su Yu's flesh and reverberating through his sea of will. An "Earth" divine character took shape. Nearby, someone failed to hold onto their weapon; it flew free and disintegrated in midair, turning into streaks of sharp brilliance that sliced through the void, hurtling toward Su Yu's sea of will! All around, trees spread outward, their roots extending rapidly in an attempt to strike him down. This was no bestowal of heaven and earth's blessings! Yet Su Yu treated it as such. He rose, his divine apertures erupting with blazing light, shattering every assault to dust! "Trying to deny my breakthrough?" These phenomena seemed intent on preventing him from stepping into the Tengkong Realm! Even Su Yu had not anticipated that fusing one hundred and eighty divine apertures would produce such a spectacle. Earlier, when he fused his three hundred and sixty origin apertures, nothing of the sort had occurred. Why? His cultural weapon materialized! His body continued absorbing Heaven Yuan Qi, growing increasingly powerful by the second! The rate of absorption was astonishingly fast! Did heaven and earth forbid the unification of the five elements? Su Yu fell into thought, looking toward the heavens, his entire body radiating brilliant golden light. Why? What was wrong with unifying the five elements? Why shouldn't it be allowed?! Boom! Thunder roared! Su Yu's "Thunder" divine character met the strike head-on, detonating with crackling thunder of its own as deafening rumbles echoed endlessly! Just then, more and more origin qi gathered in the sky, alongside gathering willpower and even faint traces of coalescing Heaven Yuan Qi! The entire Dragon Battle Platform was enveloped. Su Yu's cultural weapon flew beyond the inner arena ring, shooting forth as divine characters erupted with power, intercepting the miniature figures that the origin qi was gradually forming in midair! Five-element figures! Fire figures, water figures, wood figures... Formed from origin qi, willpower, and Heaven Yuan Qi, they condensed into humanoid shapes and charged downward! Su Yu furrowed his brow, manipulating his cultural weapon in swift slaughter! Thunderous detonations shook the air! One divine character after another, now half-corporeal and sharply condensed, surged upward to battle the sky! ... All around, Sun Moon experts appeared one after another. Zhu Tiandao and the others encircled the perimeter. Zhu Tiandao hurriedly transmitted his voice: "Isolate the area from the outside! What in the world is happening? This doesn't look like a celestial blessing—it looks like heavenly punishment!" Niu Baidao's eyes flickered. "I'm not sure. It might be tied to certain legends! After the Great Cataclysm, some things vanished from the light of day. Not because they were lost, but because they were forbidden from appearing. Is Su Yu cultivating a divine art?" "His origin apertures fused long ago. If you want to count it, I suppose that could be considered a divine art..." "Then who knows!" Even the Sun Moon experts were baffled by the situation. Meanwhile, Zhu Tiandao directed the surroundings while sending voice transmissions. The next moment, a small mirror inside his robes vibrated—the secondary mirror! Upon checking it, Zhu Tiandao's expression shifted slightly. He immediately warned via voice transmission: "Be careful. Sun Moon experts have infiltrated!" The surrounding Sun Moon cultivators felt their hearts skip a beat. Sun Moons had arrived! They had finally lost their patience! Yet Su Yu's current predicament was completely beyond their expectations. This was no fabricated anomaly, but a genuine one, which threw a wrench into their plans. None of them spoke aloud. Now was not the time to deal with those infiltrated Sun Moons. Zhu Tiandao roared, "Everyone, disperse! Do not get too close! This is all normal! Su Yu may be on the verge of deducing the Primordial Spirit Aperture, and heaven and earth will not tolerate the emergence of the Primordial Spirit Aperture for the human race! Remember Su Yu's sacrifice today!" At those words, the crowd in all directions was shaken. "The Primordial Spirit Aperture is intolerable to heaven and earth?!" "This is trying to kill Su Yu!" "What the hell? Does heaven refuse to let us skip the Kaiyuan Realm?" "Defying the heavens to open apertures directly naturally invites heavenly punishment. Is Su Yu going to be all right?" "Manor Lord, you elders are so powerful, shatter those things!" "..." Amid the shouts, Zhu Tiandao bellowed, "Until the heavenly punishment is weathered, the Primordial Spirit will not emerge! Su Yu can hold on!" He might as well toss out an excuse! Even if the Primordial Spirit Aperture was exposed to make people take it seriously, it wouldn't provoke the Invincibles, avoiding excessive trouble. With such a massive spectacle unfolding, it wouldn't do if he didn't provide a somewhat plausible explanation. At this moment, origin qi surged in from all directions! It wasn't helping Su Yu break through, but hindering the corporeal manifestation of his willpower! In the sky, miniature figures coalesced continuously, clashing against Su Yu's cultural weapon and divine characters! The scale grew grander, and the area of coverage spread ever wider! ... In the crowd, an old man looked up at the sky in shock. Heavenly punishment! Was the emergence of the Primordial Spirit Aperture truly this momentous? Could the human race leap past the bottleneck of the Kaiyuan Realm and directly enter the Qianjun Realm in the future? Just like the powerful races across the myriad realms, like gods and demons—starting directly at Qianjun? The Primordial Spirit Aperture... did it have other uses? Back when Su Yu first proposed the concept, someone had brought up Bai Tianhao, who had slain a Shanhai Realm seventh-layer cultivator as a Lingyun. If the Primordial Spirit Aperture emerged, could it unleash even greater power? Was it effective not just for the weak, but beneficial for the strong as well? He wanted to observe! He wanted to probe! Unable to hold back, faint visions of the sun and moon flickered in his eyes, yet he dared not gaze too openly or scrutinize too closely. He could only catch glimpses of the platform, where Su Yu blazed with golden light, looking like a god of war! His willpower was immense, and divine characters waged battle in the sky. "Damn it!" "Curse it, I can't probe any closer!" The old man grew anxious. Could the Primordial Spirit Aperture allow one to fight above their cultivation level? Directly opposite the old man, a woman was equally impatient. Let me see! Bastards, why did Zhu Tiandao and those old fools seal the space, keeping her from seeing clearly? Where was the Primordial Spirit Aperture? How was it opened? Once opened, what benefits did it confer? Was it effective for the Sun Moon Realm? Could opening it enhance a Sun Moon expert's strength? Damn it! Su Yu had actually pinpointed the location of the Primordial Spirit Aperture. Even if she hadn't taken it seriously before, who would dare underestimate it now in the face of this heavenly punishment? It had to be an extraordinary treasure! Astral winds continued to sweep in, and origin qi from all around kept converging. Just then, a cloud drifted through the air, but an instant later, it was shattered by the chaotic currents of origin qi! A massive amount of Heaven Yuan Qi burst forth, spilling outward! ... "What the hell!" Zhu Tiandao cursed inwardly. "Who triggered that thing?!" That was the fake anomaly they had set up! Someone hurriedly replied, "It wasn't us! It was prematurely triggered! This place is frantically siphoning in the surrounding origin qi and Heaven Yuan Qi, so our concealing formation shattered and the stuff leaked out on its own!" They were helpless! It wasn't as if they wanted this to happen! To keep it hidden, the formation they had set up was merely an illusionary trick, but the suction force was so powerful that it had shattered on its own! Down below in the crowd, someone yelled, "It's an anomaly, a real anomaly! Good heavens, a celestial blessing and a heavenly punishment came at the same time, and the punishment broke the blessing! Is... is Su Yu trying to become a saint?!" "Heavens above, what is that leaking energy? Even from so far away, it feels incredible!" "Holy shit, that's Heaven Yuan Qi! Ten strands of that is roughly equal to a whole Heaven Yuan Fruit... I ate one when I was a kid!" a scion from a prominent clan cried out. Heaven Yuan Fruits were no stranger to the people. Those who read widely knew about them; Su Yu had once read about them in books as well. At this moment, the fake anomaly was being drained so aggressively by the real anomaly that some Heaven Yuan Qi leaked away, leaving everyone shocked and aching at the waste. "Damn it, so much leaked out! Why did the gold disappear so fast?" "Idiot, you ignorant fool! The moment Heaven Yuan Qi touches ordinary origin qi, it degrades into regular qi! What a waste of heaven's gifts!" "..." More and more people gathered from every direction! Crowds swarmed in non-stop! Spectators, the stunned, those yelling in awe—today was a true eye-opener! In all their lives, they had never seen anything like this! "I heard that when top geniuses break through, celestial anomalies can appear. Back in the day, when Xia Longwu, Manor Lord of Great Xia Prefecture, broke through to Shanhai, an anomaly descended from the heavens and origin qi fell like rain, but even that wasn't this absurd, right?" "Su Yu... is he guaranteed to become an Invincible expert in the future?" "..." The murmurs grew louder and louder! Meanwhile, Su Yu maintained a solemn expression, continually polishing himself. Holding his willpower firm, his little hammer boomed forth, battling the increasingly formidable humanoid figures in the sky. "It doesn't seem like heavenly punishment..." Su Yu couldn't quite describe the sensation. It felt more like he had unsealed something, triggering the manifestation of universal rules. A thought faintly crossed his mind. The Five Elements Art was originally a single technique. Yet because it was too powerful, someone in the past had split it into five separate arts. Could it have been an ancestor of the Five Elements race? Still... could an ancestor of the Five Elements race inflict punishment on a human? The rules of the Five Elements race shouldn't govern humanity! If this had happened in the Five Elements Realm, it would make sense. But for it to occur in the Human Realm was abnormal. "Could this actually be a human cultivation art?" Su Yu had an inkling. Was that possible? Or perhaps back during the Human Realm's glory days, this art had been bestowed upon the Five Elements race by humanity, but humans had split it apart before granting it... He couldn't be sure! This wasn't caused by the 180 divine apertures alone, but by unifying the five cultivation arts. Otherwise, Su Yu had already opened 180 divine apertures before without triggering this. This time, however, he had drawn down heavenly punishment! That meant it had nothing to do with the apertures themselves, but with the art, because the techniques had been linked together! Su Yu pushed those thoughts aside. In that instant, he shot into the air! A golden figure was revealed! He swiftly shattered a humanoid figure and landed right atop a cloud—the fake anomaly! He had spent quite a bit of Heaven Yuan Qi to produce this! He couldn't let it go to waste! Opening his mouth, he swallowed deeply. The cloud surged into his mouth, watched by countless pairs of eyes. Someone gasped in envy and jealousy, "Holy hell, he's absorbing Heaven Yuan Qi to cast his body! He's struck it rich!" "His body has turned completely golden! How many body casts is this?" "His flesh was monstrously strong to begin with!" "..." At this moment, the experts watching in secret widened their eyes, straining to catch a glimpse of his secrets. But after devouring the cloud, Su Yu dropped back down instantly, returning inside the ring. "Fuck!" someone cursed under their breath. Stay outside and let us see! ... Zhu Tiandao was alarmed as well. He warned via voice transmission, "Careful, everyone be careful! Damn it, three Sun Moons have infiltrated! Along with six Shanhais! Keep your guard up! I'm worried this will attract even more people soon. We could close the net... but Su Yu isn't finished yet. What do we do?" Three Sun Moons had already arrived! In just this short span of time! If this continued, wouldn't it draw even stronger figures? He felt a surge of unease! Just as the thought crossed his mind, Su Yu, having swallowed massive amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi, let out a low roar as his four limbs turned completely golden! The golden sheen spread rapidly! Body casting! Origin qi from all directions swirled frantically toward him as all 360 apertures devoured it greedily! Su Yu wasted no words, splashing down gallons of origin qi liquid so that origin qi fell like rain! He absorbed it, filling his physical frame. Inside his mind, divine characters continued to form. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth... A second "Fire" divine character was outlined. It was no longer the previous type of fire, but a true flame character, not an inherited one. He outlined the five elements divine characters in succession, having already formed the "Wind" divine character just before. Seventeen divine characters! Su Yu instantly possessed seventeen divine characters! Absorbing massive amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi and origin qi, his body-casting speed accelerated at a blistering pace. His first cast was nearly complete! His willpower churned restlessly as well. Signs of corporeal manifestation appeared! There was no Primordial Spirit Aperture! At this moment, Su Yu could faintly sense an aperture somewhere in his body that seemed ready to open, yet met with resistance and obstruction; the Primordial Spirit Aperture did not open. Su Yu didn't dwell on it! Unable to bother with that now, he pressed on with body casting! The commotion grew louder and louder! In the sky, the miniature fire figures and golden figures were shattered by him one by one, yet showed no sign of stopping! Ten minutes, twenty minutes... Thunderous booms resounded without pause! There was still no sign of it coming to an end! ... Meanwhile, Zhu Tiandao and the others traded continuous voice transmissions. Trouble! More people were being drawn in! Four Sun Moons now, and nine Shanhais. Some might not even belong to the All-Races Cult, but were wandering experts travelling nearby. Attracted by the massive disturbance, they were rushing over. Half an hour later, the first Sun Moon arrived openly! "Manor Lord Zhu... what is going on here?" An expert called out from across the distance. Zhu Tiandao recognized him as an expert from neighboring Great Song Prefecture to their south. Hearing the shout, Zhu Tiandao replied, "A minor matter. Su Yu is just breaking through to Tengkong, nothing much..." That Sun Moon was struck speechless. A minor matter? Is this how someone in your prefecture breaks through to Tengkong? "Do you need help?" "No need. Director Song, please do not enter the city, lest it cause misunderstandings!" Zhu Tiandao announced loudly, "Visiting Sun Moons and Shanhais, please do not enter Tiandu Prefecture! Zhu will apologize to everyone afterward! Right now is not a good time to enter the city. Please do not make things difficult for me, or for Great Ming Prefecture!" Although Director Song dearly wanted to enter Tiandu Prefecture to investigate, he held back. No prefecture would permit outside experts to enter at such a moment. He could only reply, "Do as you see fit, Manor Lord Zhu. We will not enter the city!" Zhu Tiandao shouted once more: "Shanhais and Sun Moons inside the city, do not move rashly! Maintain order and do not give outsiders an opening! Carry out your duties and guard your designated posts and areas!" After issuing multiple warnings, any lurking Sun Moon or Shanhai could rightfully be treated as an enemy and slain! Regardless of whether you were a spy from another prefecture, sneaking in while concealing your strength proved you were up to no good! Meanwhile, the golden brilliance covering Su Yu's body grew more dazzling by the moment! Zhu Tiandao grew anxious and transmitted, "How much longer?" "Three hours!" Su Yu replied. "I need to achieve physical Tengkong first, then corporealize my willpower, cast my body a second time, and complete the second or even third cast!" Corporeal manifestation of willpower also provided an opportunity for rapid advancement. Su Yu wanted to save time and finish multiple body casts in a single go. Zhu Tiandao was rendered speechless! Several more hours?! Didn't this brat say earlier that he was only aiming for physical Tengkong this time? Fuck! After a few more hours, word would have spread far and wide! ... An hour later. Outside the city, Chief Hu stepped through the air and called out, "Manor Lord Zhu, my marquis asks if there is any place you require assistance." "No need! You may not enter the city!" Chief Hu said no more, coming to a halt outside the city. He exchanged glances with Director Song of Great Song Prefecture from afar. Neither said anything, but doubt and astonishment filled their eyes. Su Yu? This was breaking through to Tengkong? It looked more like breaking through to Shanhai or Sun Moon, damn it! Chief Hu felt a wave of regret. What a pity—this had been Great Xia Prefecture's genius. The commotion this fellow caused during his breakthrough was too terrifying. Was this a sign of future Invincibility? Previously, the marquis and others had said that reaching Sun Moon would be no problem for Su Yu. Looking at him now, he might truly achieve the Dao of Invincibility. ... Meanwhile, inside the city. The citizens had quieted down somewhat, yet none were willing to leave, their eyes glued to the sky. More and more experts were arriving, giving them quite the show. Even though those experts remained outside the city walls, the Sun Moons spoke loudly across the distance for all to hear. For the first time, the locals truly felt what it meant for Great Ming Prefecture to have enormous prestige! The several Sun Moons hiding inside were equally speechless. With so many Sun Moons gathering outside, they didn't dare make a reckless exit now. Forget it—they would remain undercover, tread carefully, and slip away the moment this concluded. As for Su Yu, had he actually opened the Primordial Spirit Aperture or not? ... No one paid them any mind. Right now, Zhu Tiandao and his people were in no rush. Since those infiltrators were already inside and marked, they shouldn't dream of escaping! For now, the priority was for everything to proceed smoothly: let Su Yu succeed in breaking through to Tengkong, disperse the crowd, and take them down one by one. There was no need to startle the snakes now—if a Sun Moon-level battle erupted inside the city, the casualties and damage would be catastrophic! ... Su Yu had no time to spare for anyone else. He relentlessly shattered the heavenly fires and heavenly waters, cleansing his willpower, tempering his divine apertures, and absorbing the broken fragments of the humanoid figures to strengthen his divine characters. Forces of such power would have slain an ordinary Tengkong cultivator long ago. Against Su Yu, it fell short. Treating them as blessings, Su Yu gladly accepted them all! Two hours passed... Su Yu's physical body grew increasingly formidable. His consumption of Heaven Yuan Qi exceeded his original expectations, but by now, almost his entire body had turned golden! Only his head had yet to turn fully golden! The first cast was on the verge of completion! Once he completed a single cast, he would be a true Tengkong Realm cultivator! His head began to take on a golden glow. Gradually, his eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears... all turned gold. His blood surged! His bones transformed! Su Yu's face remained calm. He was not worried about anything. With a ring of Sun Moon experts guarding the perimeter, if something went wrong even under these conditions, there was nothing he could have done anyway—it would be the same anywhere. Besides, there was Zhu Tiandao, a ninth-layer Sun Moon expert! If someone could still assassinate him under such guard, then he truly had no way out. Now, only the final sliver remained before turning completely golden. The first cast was right before him! The next moment, Su Yu swallowed a massive mouthful of Heaven Yuan Qi! Boom! A violent explosion rang out from his body like thunder, all his bones cracking in unison! All 360 apertures flared, bursting with golden radiance! The first cast was complete! And right at that moment, the sky shifted once again! Clouds appeared, drifting downward! They were vastly larger than the fake cloud from earlier! The clouds expanded—ten meters, twenty meters... one hundred meters! Zhu Tiandao and the others' eyes went wide! Holy shit! A real anomaly had come! This time it wasn't a heavenly punishment, but a celestial blessing! At the same time, the clouds morphed into colossal characters: "Zhoutian Body Cast, Human Sovereign's Blessing!" As soon as those characters appeared, the world fell dead silent! Vast amounts of Heaven Yuan Qi rolled through the air! Yet at this moment, no one cared about that. "N-no... this can't be real... It's the rules, the ancient rules..." At this moment, a Sun Moon outside cried out, "The ancient rules have manifested! This is... this is a celestial blessing bestowed by the ancient Human Sovereign! Zhoutian Body Cast! Casting the body with 360 origin apertures!" "Su Yu, how do you open the 360 Zhoutian Apertures?!" "Historically, only Invincibles proving their Dao received blessings from the ancient sovereigns! How can a Tengkong breakthrough receive one?!" Someone shouted in disbelief! A Zhoutian Body Cast actually triggered a blessing from the ancient Human Sovereign, provoking a shift in the rules of the Human Realm! What did this signify? An expert stammered in shock, "An anomaly, a celestial blessing... In the ancient era, people cast their bodies like this—and more than one, or the rules wouldn't have manifested! Could it be... could ancient geniuses have all cast their bodies using 360 Zhoutian Apertures?!" "Su Yu... Su Yu knows how to open all 360 origin apertures!" They roared in agitation. Zhu Tiandao was completely dumbfounded as well, but the next moment, he bellowed, "Nonsense! What absolute rubbish! It's fake! It's a fake anomaly we made ourselves, just for fun..." Bullshit! Who the fuck would believe you?! Fake? Could your family's fake anomaly ever look like this?! At this moment, the characters formed from the clouds instantly dissolved into Heaven Yuan Qi, sweeping toward Su Yu! Golden light blazed! Around the area, the lurking experts felt their throats run dry! A Zhoutian Aperture body cast! To think it would be like this! To think it would summon the ancient rules into manifestation! Su Yu was surprised as well, and amidst his shock, he felt deeply shaken. Before the ancient Great Cataclysm, did the human race truly possess a Sovereign? And now? Were they dead? Why had they died? The rules remained—was that sovereign truly dead or not? Or had they died long ago, yet because the Human Realm endured, their rules persisted? He didn't know. Such things were too distant from him! All he knew was that he had succeeded in casting his body! At this moment, the Heaven Yuan Qi transformed from the clouds was unimaginably dense, pouring into his frame! Su Yu could feel himself growing stronger! Stronger and stronger! The first cast was complete! Su Yu did not stop. His willpower could no longer be suppressed. The next moment, with a thunderous boom, golden light erupted! Corporeal manifestation of willpower! "His Civilization Master cultivation has advanced as well!" At this moment, everyone was dumbfounded. Today, this fellow achieved a dual Tengkong breakthrough! Not only that, one divine character after another materialized in the void, fully manifested! Blood, Thunder, Break, Kill, Calamity... The newly outlined divine characters manifested one after another as well. Two "Fire" divine characters. The divine characters flashed and quickly vanished. In the next breath, vast amounts of willpower emerged out of thin air between heaven and earth, while massive amounts of willpower welled up inside his sea of will, reinforcing all his characters! The "Blood" divine character leaped to Tier-3 in an instant! The "Thunder" divine character followed closely, advancing shortly after! Su Yu's willpower transformed at breakneck speed, his divine apertures expanding. At that moment, clouds once again took shape in the void. There were fewer than before, but this time, they were not composed of Heaven Yuan Qi, but of pure willpower. They drifted toward Su Yu! This time, no giant characters appeared. Su Yu's heart stirred. What did this mean? The previous punishment was due to the cultivation art. Yet when he broke through with 180 divine apertures, no rule-based congratulations appeared, only a simple natural anomaly—the kind some people triggered upon entering Shanhai. That meant 180 divine apertures had not received the blessing of the ancient Human Sovereign. Which also meant 180 divine apertures might truly not be the limit! Su Yu felt it fell short compared to before, but Zhu Tiandao and the others were completely stunned. Zhu Tiandao's expression changed repeatedly as he yelled, "We provided that willpower ourselves! It's not an anomaly..." No one paid him any attention! By now, anyone who believed him was an idiot! This guy Su Yu, advancing in both paths, had produced two consecutive anomalies—no, counting the initial heavenly punishment, and wait, hadn't a cloud appeared the first time as well? What was going on? Did the heavens think the first time wasn't enough, so it came back for another round?! ... While everyone was reeling in shock, Su Yu paid them no heed! As each divine character advanced, his sea of will churned and expanded. Su Yu ignored all distractions—now was the perfect opportunity to cast his flesh! He hadn't even finished absorbing all the Heaven Yuan Qi from those clouds! Cast the body! When a Civilization Master advanced, it was inherently a golden opportunity to temper the physical body! Su Yu's aura surged dramatically. His flesh was continuously remodeled by Heaven Yuan Qi, blanketed in a deeper, richer golden hue! The clouds of willpower settled into his sea of will. As for the initial heavenly punishment, it had been completely shattered, reduced to nourishment and devoured! Several Tier-3 divine characters emerged; his Tier-2 characters grew stronger; and the newly outlined Tier-1 characters advanced almost in the blink of an eye. The clouds of willpower were steadily refined by Su Yu! He guzzled Heaven Yuan Qi as though it cost nothing! Roughly half an hour later, a deafening boom! The second body cast! This time, it was startlingly fast. Aided by perfect timing and favorable conditions, Su Yu swiftly completed his second cast! His sea of will was approaching saturation. Su Yu paid it no mind; his little hammer hammered away furiously, expanding his sea of will, compressing his willpower, and reinforcing his divine characters. And his flesh continued to undergo body casting! He had Heaven Yuan Qi in abundance. What he needed now was to prolong this breakthrough process, granting himself more opportunities. During a breakthrough, certain upper limits temporarily dissolved; otherwise, under normal circumstances, completing a single cast would take at least ten days to half a month. ... "Second cast!" "This guy... opened 360 apertures, completed two body casts, and his sea of will advanced..." Several experts were dumbstruck! His physical strength right now likely exceeded the power of two thousand apertures! They weren't sure whether Su Yu had achieved forty-aperture fusion, but Su Yu had invented the aperture fusion method—could forty apertures fused together be possible? They didn't know! Whether Su Yu's 360 apertures formed a self-sustaining cycle was also unclear to them. If he had achieved a perfect breakthrough, his current physical strength was at least two thousand apertures' worth! Utterly astounding! An ordinary genius of the warrior path—setting aside freaks—usually cultivated the 108-aperture War God Art with twelve apertures fused together. Upon reaching the ninth layer of the Wanshi Realm, they typically possessed the power of 240 apertures, and even factoring in cultivation arts and martial techniques, they wouldn't reach 300 apertures' worth. Such geniuses generally underwent eighteen casts, with very few reaching twenty-seven casts. After eighteen casts, a ninth-layer Tengkong cultivator would possess around 1,500 apertures' worth of power. At twenty-seven casts, they would be quite formidable, nearing 4,000 apertures' worth. Yet Su Yu had completed his second cast right now! If he achieved a perfect breakthrough, he could effortlessly tear apart an ordinary ninth-layer Tengkong genius; even an eighteen-cast genius would be no match for him. And that was without even factoring in his rank as a Civilization Master! At this moment, the experts wore complex expressions. Some glanced at Chief Hu. This had been Great Xia Prefecture's genius, yet here he was, having run off to Great Ming Prefecture! Setting aside the constant release of revolutionary cultivation arts, today he had cast his body and advanced his willpower; he could already be treated as a lower-tier Lingyun! Fighting above his cultivation level was no challenge for Su Yu! And Su Yu did not stop—he continued casting his body! It would be best if he could complete a third cast! Right now, the anomaly had not ended, which meant his breakthrough had not finished; he could keep going! Heaven Yuan Qi? He had plenty! Willpower? He had that too! His sea of will was not saturated, and even if it reached saturation, he wasn't afraid—his little hammer would keep pounding relentlessly! Su Yu's willpower manifested corporeal form and advanced. Its intensity was now no less than high-tier Tier-2, even showing signs of evolving toward peak Tier-2. Once his willpower reached Tier-3, with Tier-3 divine characters and enough divine apertures opened, he would be a Lingyun Realm Civilization Master! Of course, Su Yu didn't dwell on that. At this moment, seventeen divine characters began to assemble, shaping into a saber that steadily absorbed willpower, locking together and solidifying into a genuine divine character battle technique! And his physical body was once again blanketed in gold! After a long time, the anomaly between heaven and earth vanished completely. Right at that final moment, Su Yu's flesh shuddered once more. Boom! A thunderous roar erupted from within! Whoosh... The sound of blood coursing through his veins echoed out! Thump! Thump! Thump! His heartbeat was loud and clear, steady and powerful. Wisps of dark vapor were vaporized from his flesh and faded away! The third cast was complete! His golden body began to revert to its natural hue, the radiance gradually dissipating. Su Yu returned to his normal appearance. Yet at this moment, everything felt entirely different! Su Yu stood motionless. Looking at the world now... everything seemed remarkably vivid. His willpower responded to his every whim; with a single thought, everything within its range was laid bare in exquisite detail! Taking a few light steps, he felt an overwhelming sense of raw power. There were no signs of losing control! He clenched his fist—it was brimming with unprecedented strength! With only three body casts, he felt incomparably stronger than before. In an explosive burst, he could likely unleash the power of 2,400 apertures. His own Heaven Yuan Qi had been consumed in large quantities—roughly equivalent to thirty Heaven Yuan Fruits. However, the anomaly's clouds had also contained a substantial amount of Heaven Yuan Qi, meaning this body casting had consumed far more than anticipated, likely approaching the equivalent of fifty Heaven Yuan Fruits. Su Yu was not particularly surprised. His body was inherently monstrous; otherwise, it could never have supported an explosive output of over two thousand apertures' worth of power. Compared to other Tengkong cultivators at three casts, his flesh was vastly superior. Against anyone else at three casts, even gods or demons, Su Yu was confident he could blow them apart with a single punch! Su Yu stepped out of the smaller arena, appearing once more on the Dragon Battle Platform. At this moment, every pair of eyes from all four directions stared at him as if looking at a monster! He was merely breaking through to Tengkong, so why did it feel like someone proving their Dao to become an Invincible? The sheer scale had been terrifying! Seeing this, Zhu Tiandao and the others let out sighs of relief. It was finally over. If this kid had kept going, they were genuinely worried something catastrophic would occur! Still, to consume so many resources only to achieve three casts left them speechlessly shaking their heads. This guy could truly eat! Right now, Su Yu said nothing. Silence reigned in every direction, as though everyone was waiting for him to speak.