Indeed, it was the Warden of Heaven!
Or rather, through this "Record" character, Su Yu was viewing the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and thereby caught a glimpse of the Warden of Heaven.
*Hmm?*
Su Yu was taken aback. Was this real-time surveillance, or an image from the past?
If that was the case... could the Warden of Heaven also see him?
And if so, hadn't Duobao and the others been monitoring the Warden of Heaven all along?
Countless questions instantly surged through Su Yu's mind!
With no time to overthink, Su Yu peered deeper into the "Record" fragment. At that moment, the Warden of Heaven appeared to be inside some great hall, likely within the Hunting Heaven Pavilion.
Vaguely, the Warden of Heaven's outline was visible, though not very clear.
Su Yu couldn't tell whether this was an active, real-time projection.
Had it been recorded on some day in the past?
How bizarre!
As the thought crossed his mind, a momentary daze washed over him, and he faintly heard voices:
"Any news of Tianyue?"
"Pavilion Master, not yet!"
"He vanished... but I feel he isn't dead yet. Tell me, would he betray me?"
"This subordinate does not know."
"Forget it! Go summon the elders. Every elder must come to the Hunting Heaven Pavilion headquarters to attend the elders' banquet ten days from now!"
"Understood!"
"..."
The outsider's voice soon faded away. At that moment, Su Yu vaguely sensed that the Warden of Heaven might be caressing the Heaven Hunting Ranking; there was a faint impression of it.
"Soon... soon you will be mine! Su Yu... Su Yu actually survived the Tianyuan curse. There must be an extraordinary treasure in his sea of will. Lord King Wen, is it your inheritance, or... the Time Master's?"
The murmurs echoed faintly. A moment later, Su Yu snapped back to reality, involuntarily disconnecting from the vision. Overexerted from the excessive drain of willpower, he was drenched in sweat, his face deathly pale.
Meanwhile, the "Record" fragment before him dimmed again from its earlier faint glow.
It seemed as though it had just been activated, only to return to dormancy once more.
Beside him, Tianmie remarked in surprise, "What did you just do? In my hands, this thing barely changed, so how did it start glowing the second you touched it?"
Su Yu took a deep breath. "Did you see that, my lord?"
"See what?"
*What was I supposed to see?*
Tianmie had a completely bewildered look. Su Yu understood: so he truly was the only one who had seen it.
At that moment, he seemed to have activated the object. What he had really seen was not the Warden of Heaven, but the Heaven Hunting Ranking itself; because they were fundamentally intertwined, he had merely caught sight of the Warden of Heaven by extension.
Su Yu inhaled deeply, keeping his thoughts to himself for now, and began stroking the fragment in his hand.
Was this a divine character?
If so... this had to be an Eternal divine character, right?
He had never seen an Eternal divine character before!
Did this count as one?
Yet if it were a divine character, it seemed embedded within the fragment, perhaps impossible to unlock. Otherwise, if one could shatter it for cultivation...
Well, the moment that thought arose, the "Record" divine character seemed to tremble slightly.
Did this divine character possess sentience?
Could it sense his intentions?
"I wonder if this is a divine character, or if King Wen wrote it himself?"
Su Yu looked at Tianmie. "My lord, what do you think?"
Tianmie said dismissively, "At King Wen's level, even if he merely wrote it out by hand, he would have done so with utmost dedication since it was his own possession. Even if it isn't a divine character, it's still stronger than ordinary divine characters!"
A table of contents was not necessarily a divine character, but it was unquestionably powerful; that much was true.
Su Yu nodded slightly. That made sense.
"Can you shatter this thing, my lord?"
"Are you sure?"
Tianmie chuckled. "Are you sure you want me to try and see if I can smash it?"
Su Yu nodded. "Give it a try! Perhaps we can peel off the outer casing to reveal the character inside. Regardless of whether it's a divine character or not, let's get it out and see!"
"You lunatic..."
Tianmie was at a loss for words; the kid was truly reckless.
Fine then, I'll give it a shot!
Without another word, he gripped the fragment and let out a low roar, exerting tremendous force. With a loud rumble, the fragment creaked and groaned, yet it showed no signs of breaking. Instead, Tianmie's palm was slightly pierced, drawing a trace of blood.
Tianmie shook his hand, tossing the piece aside, and bared his teeth. "What an exceptional treasure, unbelievably sturdy! How was this thing ever shattered back then? It would require at least the strength of Dao Harmonization!"
"You couldn't break it, my lord?"
Tianmie snapped crossly, "Nonsense! If I went all out and struck it with my staff, I could crush anything into dust! But are you certain you want me to do that, to smash it to pieces no matter what?"
Su Yu pondered for a moment. Forget it, we can talk about it next time!
This object seemed somewhat useful right now. At the very least, it could be used to monitor the Warden of Heaven, and the Warden of Heaven didn't seem to have noticed.
*Does it share a connection with the golden album in my head?*
Su Yu wondered whether he could place it inside his mind.
His only worry was a mishap. If placing it inside caused a sudden outburst that shattered his sea of will, he would be completely finished.
Anything placed inside one's head required careful deliberation.
"Right, fur ball..."
Recalling something, Su Yu quickly squeezed the fur ball out of his head. Looking at the dazed creature, he asked, "Does it smell fragrant?"
Did this share the same origin as the album?
If so, its attraction to the fur ball should be immense.
The fur ball took a sniff, sensed it for a moment, and said hesitantly, "A little fragrant..."
"Just a little?"
"Yeah!"
"Do you want to eat it?"
"Can I eat it?"
Su Yu stroked his chin. "Is this aroma the same as what you usually smell?"
"Pretty much!"
"Pretty much?"
The little fur ball replied fuzzily, "Mm-hmm, pretty much."
"Then why aren't you pouncing on it to eat?"
"It's not as fragrant as you!"
"..."
Beside them, Tianmie got a headache from listening. What in the world were they babbling about with all this fragrance!
Su Yu, however, furrowed his brow slightly and looked at Tianmie again. "My lord, whose subordinate was Duobao back then? Which race does he belong to?"
"Duobao?"
Tianmie didn't understand how the topic had suddenly shifted to Duobao. He thought about it and said, "Duobao... let me think. He was a titled general. What was his post back then..."
After racking his brains for a while, he finally said, "Oh, right, right! He was in charge of the Imperial Court's Heavenly Treasure Department! Above him was Marquis Tianbao, who mainly oversaw the distribution of treasures. It was a lucrative post in logistics, far more comfortable than what we had to do!"
"Which race did Duobao come from again..."
Tianmie pondered a bit longer before speaking up, "The Treasure-Passing Mouse race! Yes, that was the one! They've already been wiped out, so he might be the only one left. That fellow loved hoarding wealth and treasures. When he fought me, he shattered at least a hundred Earth armaments and three or four Heaven armaments!"
"Quite wealthy indeed!"
Su Yu smiled. Picking up the fragment, he hesitated briefly before asking, "My lord, do you think this thing is real or fake?"
"What?"
Tianmie was bewildered. What did that mean?
Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "Nothing, it's just that I feel... it shouldn't be like this! Most importantly, the little fur ball thinks it smells fragrant, yet it didn't pounce forward to devour it..."
Perched on his head, the little fur ball was confused. What was wrong with not eating it?
It just wasn't very hungry lately!
How strange!
It really did smell quite nice!
Su Yu set the matter aside and asked further, "My lord, just how powerful were the so-called marquises? And what about the Human Kings?"
Tianmie replied with an odd look, "Marquises... upon stepping into Dao Harmonization, if you accumulated significant merit, most could be enfeoffed as marquises. Failing that, you could at least manage to become a titled general. Being enfeoffed as a marquis generally signified Dao Harmonization!"
Su Yu chuckled. "So there were Dao Harmonization experts who weren't made marquises?"
"A few... for example... our Boss!"
Tianmie grinned. "Boss wasn't enfeoffed as a marquis. He had already stepped into Dao Harmonization back then, but being made a marquis meant he would have had to garrison King Gong Mansion. Boss wasn't too keen on that, so he didn't take up the burden! In truth, even without garrisoning King Gong Mansion, Boss was due to be enfeoffed as a marquis once that mission ended. King Gong was already petitioning the Human Emperor, but things got delayed because of what happened with King Wen. And after that... there was no 'after that'!"
Su Yu nodded slightly and smiled. "If you had completed the mission and stepped into Dao Harmonization, Lord Tianmie, you probably would have been made a marquis as well?"
Tianmie curled his lip. "Pretty much! They were preparing to give me a title back then, but I figured since Boss was still just a titled general, I might as well wait until Boss was made a marquis first. Who would've thought there wouldn't be a next time!"
"Why are you asking all this?" Tianmie asked curiously. "Knowing this stuff is useless, just trivial ancient gossip."
Su Yu chuckled. "Just asking casually. Then which race does the Warden of Heaven belong to?"
"The Warden of Heaven..."
Tianmie scratched his head in thought. "Ordinary folks probably really wouldn't know. But back then, I got along pretty well with several of King Wen's disciples, and I occasionally heard people mention that the Warden of Heaven seemed to belong to a rather rare race—or perhaps not even a proper race at all. They called it attaining the Dao as a 'fortune spirit'!"
"What in the world is that?"
"How would I know? I only heard someone mention it in passing. Did you expect me to pry and interrogate them? I had zero interest in the Warden of Heaven! He was quite valued, constantly entrusted with heavy responsibilities by King Wen, and he hailed from King Wen Mansion. Strictly speaking, that one..."
He pointed toward the little fur ball. "The ancestor of its clan probably knew the Warden of Heaven back then, and their relationship might have been pretty decent! Its ancestor also hailed from King Wen Mansion."
The little fur ball looked blank. Really?
"Then can I go to the Hunting Heaven Pavilion and eat food without paying?" the little fur ball chimed in. It had wanted to rob the Hunting Heaven Pavilion long ago; could it go eat without paying now?
Tianmie chuckled sinisterly. "You can try!"
The little fur ball pouted and shrank back, not daring to go.
It was terrified of getting beaten to death!
If it died, it wouldn't get to see its fragrant person anymore.
Meanwhile, Su Yu gently stroked the "Record" fragment, one thought surfacing after another.
As a grandmaster of counterfeiting, he was currently pondering a single question: was this item truly genuine?
Or had someone forged it?
What would be the point of forging it?
What was the ultimate objective?
The reason he harbored such suspicion was, on one hand, that he had built his own success on counterfeiting and possessed a natural streak of skepticism. On the other hand, when Su Yu examined this "Record" character, it actually failed to produce an innate divine character!
Zero stars!
Under normal circumstances, whenever he gained insights from something profound, Su Yu could manifest a divine character. When Old Wan had written that text back then, Su Yu had even manifested the "Civilization" divine character.
Yet when someone of my talent, Su Yu, examines King Wen's treasure, you don't even grant me a single divine character?
What was the meaning of this!
Furthermore, he had caught sight of the Warden of Heaven with such ease... and the Warden of Heaven had seemed completely oblivious. Could the Warden of Heaven truly be observed so effortlessly?
The little fur ball claimed it was fragrant, but it displayed none of the desperate craving it had toward the golden album. Back when the little fur ball was so weak and caught the scent, it had flown straight toward the golden album without hesitation!
Today, it merely smelled the fragrance, yet lacked any desire to eat.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yu gripped the fragment tightly.
He suddenly felt that he might have been set up.
The Warden of Heaven?
Duobao?
Blood money to buy one's life...
As Su Yu pondered, he asked, "My lord, was Duobao heavily injured this time?"
"Quite heavily. I blew apart his golden body... you might not understand the concept of a golden body; just consider it as me blasting apart one of his three incarnations!"
"Back then, if you had continued pursuing him relentlessly, could you have killed him?"
Tianmie sneered. "Are you underestimating me?"
"Not at all!" Su Yu smiled. "Of course I believe in your strength, my lord. What I mean is, did Duobao know your strength? He was the first to intercept you, stepping forward so smoothly. Did that Immortal Emperor Stele hold immense value to him?"
"That I can't say for sure. That grandson probably had a good idea of how strong I am. Hmph, he was courting death! Back in the day, I would have smashed him dead with a single swing!"
"So he was inferior to you back then? Inferior to your strength at that time?"
"Naturally!"
"Has his strength improved now?"
"Probably not..."
Tianmie was growing somewhat confused by his probing. What was the use of asking all this? Yet Su Yu continued, "Then if you had pursued him back then and he kept running, and you couldn't kill him immediately, would you have kept chasing him forever?"
"Of course not!" Tianmie gritted his teeth. "With a massive battle underway, if he kept fleeing all the way into the boundless void, killing him would have been troublesome. After pursuing him for a while, if it didn't work out, I would have turned around to fight someone else!"
Driving him off was enough!
Su Yu nodded.
"Then does this 'Record' fragment count as a treasure to you, my lord?"
"Naturally, a supreme treasure! This is a shard of King Wen's divine armament. If combined with the Heaven Hunting Ranking, it would be exceptionally formidable!"
Even though he had gifted it to Su Yu, he still recognized its supreme worth!
Su Yu nodded once more. It hadn't been an inescapable death trap, yet Duobao had paid with a treasure to buy his life, surrendering the item to Tianmie...
Looked at normally, there was nothing amiss.
Yet viewed through a lens of suspicion, problems appeared everywhere.
In the distance, Wan Tiansheng stepped across the void toward them. Tianmie glanced at him. "You're back again!"
Wan Tiansheng smiled and bowed slightly. "Greetings, Guardian Tianmie!"
Tianmie couldn't be bothered to respond. Wan Tiansheng didn't mind and looked toward Su Yu. "What is it?"
Su Yu tossed the fragment to Wan Tiansheng. "Take a look, Head. Channel some willpower into it and see if you discover anything."
Wan Tiansheng channeled a portion of his willpower into it, but soon shook his head. "Nothing noteworthy. It is a profoundly wondrous treasure, and I can faintly see the projections of certain individuals, including myself. This is likely the prototype of the former Dao Confirmation Ranking."
The former Myriad Heavens Treasure Pavilion had probably released the Dao Confirmation Ranking through this very object, though it was not as intuitive before being unified, resulting in rather chaotic rankings.
Su Yu nodded slightly. After a brief pause, he suddenly took out an object. Wan Tiansheng's brow furrowed slightly, and Su Yu smiled. "Hold this, Head, and take another look!"
"The Tombstone of Civilizations?"
Beside them, Tianmie asked in surprise, "That thing ended up in your hands again!"
Su Yu smiled and nodded.
He had heard previously that Tianmie knew of it, and sure enough, he recognized the item.
Wan Tiansheng held the Tombstone of Civilizations, channeled some willpower into it again to examine it, and soon tossed it back to Su Yu, shaking his head. "Still just some projections, nothing else. What did you want me to see?"
"Did you see the Warden of Heaven?"
"No."
Wan Tiansheng was surprised. "You saw him?"
"Yes."
Su Yu smiled. He had seen him, and it had nothing to do with the Tombstone of Civilizations.
In that case, it truly was connected to the golden album.
Was he overthinking it?
Or was the Warden of Heaven's true target the golden album itself!
Did he know that the Heaven Hunting Ranking was also incomplete?
Conspiracies and schemes took shape one after another in Su Yu's mind. Holding the fragment in his hand once more, Su Yu pondered and said, "Perhaps through this, I can learn some extremely vital information!"
Su Yu smiled. "Head, do you think someone who has been lonely for a hundred thousand years would talk to themselves and speak their deepest secrets aloud?"
Wan Tiansheng shook his head. "I don't know, perhaps! When one has been lonely for too long, they might enjoy saying a few words to themselves."
"You spent many years in the Xiuxin Pavilion, Head. Did you like talking to yourself?"
"A little."
Wan Tiansheng smiled. "Why, is something amiss?"
"Then after speaking to yourself for a hundred thousand years, would you still have the energy to keep doing it?"
"Probably not. Ask me again after I've lived for a hundred thousand years."
Su Yu let out a breath. "I hope I'm just overthinking!"
If he wasn't overthinking, didn't that mean the Warden of Heaven had been scheming against him from the very beginning?
No, that wasn't entirely right either... Duobao had surrendered this item to save his life after Su Yu lured everyone into the dead spirit realm, after several Invincibles had fallen, during the window where Su Yu survived and Duobao was defeated.
It might have started as a precautionary measure, only to be formally implemented later!
*Duobao and the Warden of Heaven might be working together!*
Su Yu mused internally. All of this was deduced based on his suspicions; if the suspicion was unfounded, the deduction collapsed.
*Their target might not have been me alone. Perhaps... they were initially aiming at the Tianyuan Half-Emperor? That's possible; the other character is with the Tianyuan Half-Emperor!*
*The one who desired this item most wasn't me at the start, but the Tianyuan Half-Emperor. Duobao was weaker than him, so having it seized by him would have been completely natural.*
*It was only later that I managed to slaughter a large batch of people, and Tianmie proved too powerful... so the item ended up falling into my hands...*
Deducing that it would end up in his hands wasn't too difficult. Tianmie didn't care for it, and once Su Yu learned of its existence, if it was tied to King Wen or the Time Master, he would come to inspect it no matter what. If he discovered some secret, acquiring it wouldn't be surprising.
Could the other side conduct reverse surveillance on him?
Probably not!
Otherwise, it would easily arouse suspicion.
Su Yu smiled and tossed the treasure in his hand. Fine, whether real or fake, he would keep it for now and make his own judgment later.
"Alright, nothing else then. Lord Tianmie, we'll take our leave!"
As Su Yu spoke, thoughts continued to race through his head.
The West Pavilion Master!
He hadn't paid attention to these details before. The West Pavilion Master had gone out of his way to remind him that the 'Record' fragment was with Tianmie—was he afraid Su Yu wouldn't find out?
Was he being paranoid?
The West Pavilion Master had helped him tremendously; without his intervention, the Hunting Heaven Pavilion's ambush would have put him in mortal peril.
How strange!
Was he being overly suspicious?
Su Yu thought to himself that perhaps his paranoia was indeed acting up. The West Pavilion Master had stepped forward for the human race without hesitation, intercepting the South Tower Master at the critical juncture. How could there be an issue with him?
But what if there was?
Back then, the Hunting Heaven Pavilion's Invincibles had created an inescapable killing trap, yet... he hadn't opened the dead spirit passageway at that point!
Wisdom King of the Immortal race knew he could open it, so what about the Warden of Heaven?
He definitely knew as well!
Since he knew, he should have understood that those few Invincibles wouldn't be able to kill Su Yu so easily!
The fact that he hadn't opened the dead spirit passageway meant he still had a trump card in reserve!
At that juncture, the West Pavilion Master turning his blade, attacking openly, and returning to the human race wouldn't arouse suspicion. People would even think the West Pavilion Master had played a pivotal role; if not for him, the enemy would have had two more Eternity Stage Seven experts!
Yet the reality was that even if he hadn't stepped forward, even if he had continued pursuing Su Yu... in the final moment, both he and the South Tower Master might have been dragged to their deaths by Su Yu!
And now, both he and the South Tower Master were alive!
*The West Pavilion Master... righteous and awe-inspiring... returning to the human race at the crucial moment, aiding humanity, seeking me out, and even wishing to rescue those Tenth Tide humans!*
*The Hunting Heaven Pavilion has several ancient human fossils: the Minister of Earth, the Minister of the Heaven Division, and the West Pavilion Master! The Minister of the Heaven Division was so formidable, yet because he couldn't reconcile the philosophies of the Warden of Heaven and King Wen, he drove himself mad! The Minister of Earth walked his path to the bitter end, never once thinking of returning to the human race! Only the West Pavilion Master made the most correct choice so swiftly!*
Thoughts churned continuously in Su Yu's mind. Looking at Wan Tiansheng, he sent a voice transmission, "Head, the First Head mentioned that during the Ninth Tide upheaval, nearly all the ancient human fossils died in battle?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't the Minister of the Heaven Division and the West Pavilion Master charge out during the Ninth Tide?"
"You're asking me?"
Wan Tiansheng smiled. "Either they had a more important mission, a greater calling, or... they simply felt it wasn't necessary!"
"However, the Minister of the Heaven Division indeed suffered internal conflict, causing his three incarnations to fracture until he destroyed himself. I imagine he must have experienced similar conflict back then, so why didn't he enter the fray in the end?"
"Perhaps he had a more critical mission? Or perhaps he was unaware of that battle?"
Wan Tiansheng could only speculate; not having lived through it himself, how could he know the full circumstances?
Alright, Su Yu ceased his questioning.
Wan Tiansheng transmitted, "Did you discover some issue?"
"Just some suspicions!"
Su Yu transmitted back, "I'll tell you in a few days!"
Wan Tiansheng didn't pursue it further. Soon, as he escorted Su Yu flying toward Xinghong Ancient City, he asked, "Are you returning to the human realm? What the First Head said narrowed our targets considerably. If we only need to investigate two individuals, I believe it's manageable!"
He actually wanted to return, but it was exceedingly difficult for him to do so now.
Moreover, having killed so many people previously, the current Invincibles might not heed or trust him.
Su Yu, on the other hand... might carry a bit more credibility.
Figures like King Daqin and King Daxia might be willing to listen to him. As for Wan Tiansheng, a man labeled a human demon, even if King Daqin believed him, the other Invincibles would likely trip him up at every turn!
And the only ones in the know were him, Liu Hong, and Su Yu. Liu Hong went without saying; he lacked any qualification to investigate Invincibles.
"Yes, I'll have to make a trip sooner or later!"
Su Yu nodded. "Regardless, I must secure the Sea of Consciousness Mystic Realm! I have use for it; my willpower needs to advance rapidly so I can step into Shanhai Stage Nine."
Pausing, he added, "As for the traitors... I'll find a way to ferret them out! If all else fails, I'll bring dozens of guardians along to intimidate the human race into compliance!"
"Don't do anything reckless!"
Wan Tiansheng was left utterly speechless. "If you pull a stunt like that, King Daqin and the others will never support you, nor will they permit you to conduct forced interrogations! The Eternities who originally stood on your side will likely be pushed to the opposition! Even if your intention is to catch traitors, bringing guardians to coerce them... even if you find the culprits, everyone will be left deeply aggrieved! That touches upon the prestige and dignity of our entire race. Don't you dare mess around, kid!"
Several of the older generation's prefecture-founding Invincibles cared deeply about such matters.
Investigating traitors was acceptable, and if Su Yu possessed the personal strength to beat them into submission, that was fine too—he was human, after all.
Coercing them with a group of non-human powerhouses, even if fundamentally aimed at exposing traitors, would yield disastrous outcomes.
If you, Su Yu, can bring outsiders to investigate Invincibles at will today, then if another human appears tomorrow bringing gods, immortals, and demons to strike at humanity, must we yield with open arms as well?
Su Yu thought it over and nodded. "You're right, Head. I was being somewhat short-sighted! Sometimes, an iron fist isn't necessarily the right tool."
"As long as you understand!"
Wan Tiansheng said no more. Soon, the two landed in Xinghong Ancient City. Wan Tiansheng spoke up, "Over the next few days, I will teach you some basic methods for utilizing rules. I won't lecture on the rest—I'll provide the starting point and guide you through the door, but the remainder is entirely up to your own comprehension!"
"Furthermore, all treasures and external reliances pale before forging one's own inner strength!"
He looked at Su Yu, his expression solemn. "Your foundation is exceptionally solid, terrifyingly so! However, you advanced too rapidly, lacking the time to accumulate, digest, and gain deeper enlightenment! In terms of pure physical toughness, you already rival some experts of Eternity Stage Six or Seven, and having opened the so-called Origin Spirit Acupoints, you even match some at Stage Eight or Nine! In all these aspects, you surpass me... yet to be blunt, Su Yu, believe it or not, if you and I engaged in a fight to the death... it's far more likely that I would kill you!"
Su Yu nodded. "No matter how strong my physical body is, it's useless if I can't hit you, Head. Cutting flesh with a dull knife will eventually bleed me to death! However, if I flee into the dead spirit realm, you wouldn't be able to do anything to me either."
Wan Tiansheng was speechless. Nonsense, that went without saying.
Su Yu grinned, baring his teeth. "Besides, even as strong as you are, Head, you couldn't kill me in a single strike. Without landing eight hundred or a thousand sword strikes, you wouldn't be able to finish me off!"
"Heh!"
Wan Tiansheng sneered coldly. "What you assume is merely what you assume! Your physical body is strong, but is your willpower equally formidable? Ordinary Civilization Masters have no way of dealing with you, but do you think I don't? Even with your boundless qi and blood, I have methods to bypass it, targeting your willpower exclusively!"
Su Yu shrugged. Fine, he wouldn't argue.
Trading verbal jabs wouldn't produce a victor anyway.
Wan Tiansheng didn't press the matter either, though he cursed internally. *Showing no deference whatsoever—people like you don't deserve a teacher!*
...
Soon, Wan Tiansheng's mini-class commenced.
There were only a handful of students: Su Yu, the little fur ball, Elder Wang, Old Man Bai, and Liu Hong.
Indeed, they had all arrived.
Wan Tiansheng didn't hold anything back; it was merely rule application after all. In essence, he had always been an educator; during his early days running the Civilization Academy, he had actively taught before stepping away.
"I won't dwell on the fundamentals!"
Wan Tiansheng got straight to the point. "Today, we discuss the River of Time!"
"In your view, what exactly is the River of Time?"
Su Yu answered directly, "A passageway for traversing time and space!"
"Nonsense!"
Wan Tiansheng said gravely, "Most people likely share your view, but as I see it, that is entirely incorrect! Traversing space is plausible; traversing time is utter nonsense!"
"Huh?"
The group looked surprised. Could the River of Time not traverse time by definition?
"The so-called traversal of time... is a complete joke!"
Wan Tiansheng said flatly, "Have you ever seen anyone cross over from the past to strike down a foe? Was the Human Emperor mighty? If he could stride across time from the past to the present, who could possibly stand against him?"
"But..."
Su Yu immediately countered, "I've witnessed it myself. I even accompanied you to see Lord Xinghong, Head. Furthermore, the ancestor of the fur ball's clan crossed the River of Time to entrust matters to Lord Xinghong and the others. All of that truly occurred!"
Wan Tiansheng shook his head. "That is not traversing time! That is merely an application of will! For instance, when I brought you to Xinghong Ancient City, it was merely our will descending upon a specific moment... and Senior Xinghong was sufficiently powerful to capture the lingering imprint of that will, enabling him to receive the message! In reality, an ordinary person would never be able to perceive it!"
Wan Tiansheng smiled. "Have you ever heard of a weakling claiming to have encountered a supreme expert within the River of Time?"
"I don't know."
Su Yu shook his head.
Wan Tiansheng said no more on the matter. "Perhaps I haven't fully grasped it myself, but today I am only imparting my personal insights to you! Down the road, you may form your own understandings.
"In my eyes, the River of Time is purely a spatial passageway! Stepping onto it, you might catch glimpses of the past, but those are merely your own memories; viewing another person's past is exceedingly difficult. And the future you perceive is almost certainly an illusion, merely one among millions of imagined futures born of your own mind...
"Naturally, through temporal backtracking, one might witness the past experienced by others, but that is merely the reproduction of memories—an entirely different technique altogether. King Miecan excels at that, so I won't delve into it.
"Today, our primary focus is how to utilize this for combat, for acceleration, for escape, and for countering attacks arriving from different dimensions!"
Now this piqued Su Yu's interest!
Traveling to the past or future to kill someone held no appeal for Su Yu; he was solely interested in how to flee effectively and how to land strikes on opponents.
"In truth, it still boils down to will..."
Wan Tiansheng's core concept revolved around will.
What was will?
He explained at length while Su Yu listened intently, his brows slightly furrowed. After Wan Tiansheng spoke for a while, Su Yu remarked, "Head, do you mean to say that when Invincibles kill across the past or future, it is essentially an illusion? Or rather, a realistic phantom domain!"
"Interpreting it that way works as well!"
Wan Tiansheng smiled. "If you firmly believe that I am currently in the past, striking you down there, and your opponent also firmly believes that their past self has been slain by you... a person's will is capable of killing themselves!"
Su Yu frowned. "Then if I firmly believe with absolute certainty that no one can kill my past or future, does pure self-confidence ensure I won't die?"
"That depends on strength. Even if you disbelieve, if your opponent drags you into a specific scenario of the past or future, you will naturally come to believe it, and once you die, you are truly dead..."
"..."
The two conversed back and forth. Wan Tiansheng possessed his own framework regarding rules; he didn't force everyone to subscribe to his views, as each person's comprehension varied.
He was merely imparting what he knew and realized as a point of reference.
Su Yu, on his part, ignited the Fire of Inheritance directly, allowing those around him to glean insights as well. It had to be said that Su Yu's flame was remarkably effective, leaving everyone invigorated and sharp-minded, even dredging up forgotten knowledge.
Wan Tiansheng chuckled softly and continued elaborating on his insights.
By the end, Su Yu attempted to tear into the spacetime river. To everyone's astonishment, he actually carved out a modest stretch of the River of Time, with strands of rule power wrapping around his body.
The others also gained varying degrees of insight.
Not far away, Liu Hong had been listening with rapt attention. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke up, "In truth, divine characters mark the beginning of rule comprehension, wouldn't you say, Head?"
Wan Tiansheng couldn't help but look at him. Liu Hong offered a stiff smile and continued, "I was just thinking about Su Yu's 'Blood' divine character, which carries an illusory domain, and connecting it to the realistic phantom domains Su Yu mentioned... So I was wondering, do Civilization Masters find it easier to comprehend rules... because divine characters are essentially simplified manifestations of rules?"
Liu Hong added, "Therefore, in my view, confirming the Dao as a Civilization Master is vastly harder than for a warrior! That is the core reason! Every divine character you comprehend represents a strand of rule power; the more you comprehend, the harder it becomes to confirm the Dao!
"As for the fusion of divine characters Su Yu mentioned previously, I believe it might represent the perfection of rules—unifying the various rules one has grasped into a harmonious whole, giving rise to an innate skill..."
When Su Yu had spoken earlier, Liu Hong had been present and heard everything.
Now, he was presenting his own perspective.
"And the difficulty of confirming the Dao for Civilization Masters likely stems from formulating rules, where the ceiling is simply too high! If a Civilization Master truly confirms the Dao, they might directly attain the realm of those apex ancient powerhouses!"
Liu Hong continued, "Even now, certain ancient rules still persist. What exactly are those rules? I believe they might be rules appended by the ancient powerhouses themselves. Simply put, once you confirm the Dao as a Civilization Master, you would possess the strength to add your own rule power onto the existing cosmic web of rules!"
Wan Tiansheng's eyes lit up brilliantly, while Su Yu's gaze flickered beside him.
Divine characters, rules, appending one's own rule atop the greater rule framework!
Was this what rule formulation truly meant?
Was that why a multiple divine characters master confirming the Dao could unlock the human race's suppressive restriction?
Because it touched upon the rules established by King Wen!
Suppressive power was itself the formulation of a rule!
At that moment, many perplexing matters suddenly snapped into sharp clarity.
Su Yu abruptly turned his gaze toward Liu Hong, who wore an apologetic grin. "I was just speaking off the cuff, sharing a few personal insights. Don't look at me like that, gentlemen. Everyone has their own thoughts, so surely you can allow me to voice mine? This is an academic discussion—you wouldn't deny me a chance to speak, would you?"
Su Yu ignored his deflection, pondering whether Liu Hong had truly realized this spontaneously, or had known all along.
Not far off, Wan Tiansheng sank into deep contemplation. After a long pause, his eyes shone brightly. "Perhaps... I have attained some clarity regarding my future path!"
Su Yu took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to beat Liu Hong to death. *Forget it, I won't bicker with you!*
*This bastard definitely has more secrets hidden away!*
Chapter 607