The Fur Ball Clan

"Seniors!" Su Yu spoke up after all. If he did not open his mouth now, he felt this whole family really was going to eat him! "Your Highness, wake up!" Su Yu hardened his tone. *Fur ball, time to get to work!* "Oh..." The fur ball snapped awake and bounced up in an instant. "Daddy, I'm back!" "Oh!" The big fur ball gave a nod. *So you're back, big deal.* *It wasn't as if I didn't know where you were.* *Is coming back something rare?* The little fur ball slumped in dismay, but quickly perked back up. "Daddy, this is the fruit orchard I've been raising..." *Hmm?* Su Yu paused slightly, then shot a dangerous glare at the fur ball. *I'm an orchard you're raising?* *Fine then!* *Impressive!* The little fur ball blinked, its gaze pleading: *I'm just fibbing to Daddy. Don't take it to heart.* Su Yu cursed inwardly. *Who are you trying to fool! You probably really think that way.* The big fur ball ignored their exchange, taking another deep sniff of Su Yu. It sighed, "Smells so good. I want to eat you!" "Daddy..." "Senior!" The big fur ball only inhaled a breath, muttering, "Just saying. It seems to be the legacy of the Time Master. Can't just go eating it. If I eat it, and that person shuttles back through time to collect my corpse, what will I do?" "The Time Master?" The mother ball looked at the big fur ball in puzzlement. The big fur ball's eyes brimmed with nostalgic sighs. "The Time Master, you don't know? Formidable beyond measure. Riding the River of Time, wandering throughout the myriad realms of the heavens, telling anyone they met, 'Your allotted lifespan is up; I've come to collect your corpse!'" Shaking its round body, it sighed with boundless melancholy. "Even a peerless powerhouse like that ended up going missing or perishing. King Wen even lamented that heaven and earth had lost a supreme adversary!" "..." Su Yu froze for a moment, then hurriedly asked, "The Time Master and King Wen aren't the same person?" *Weren't they?* The big fur ball gave him a strange look. "How could they be! King Wen is King Wen, and the Time Master is the Time Master. Little guy, why would you think that?" "..." Su Yu was dumbstruck. *They're not? How could that be!* "But the Heaven Hunting Ranking and the Time Master's legacy..." "Oh... you mean the Heaven Hunting Ranking?" The big fur ball said with sighing admiration, "That's a divine armament King Wen forged by imitating the Time Master's Time Record. It's incredibly powerful! He just didn't capture the true essence." Su Yu was completely stunned! The Time Master and King Wen were not the same person. The Heaven Hunting Ranking was merely an imitation divine weapon, not the true Time Record! This... this was entirely different from what he had expected! The big fur ball asked oddly, "You thought they were one and the same?" "I... I thought so!" The big fur ball was perplexed. "Why would you think that? King Wen and the Time Master shared nothing in common. Oh... they both liked wearing white robes, just like you. Does that make them the same person? The few times the Time Master appeared, she was female. King Wen is male. How could they be the same person?" "..." Su Yu went blank once more. He had only just arrived, yet a few casual words from the big fur ball had left him stunned repeatedly. *A woman?* *The Time Master is female!* *Holy crap!* *No way?!* The big fur ball added, "The outside world is just making blind guesses. In any case, I've seen the Time Master with my own eyes, and I even chatted with King Wen! That was a very, very long time ago. But after that last time I saw her, the Time Master never appeared again." A strange look flashed across Su Yu's eyes. Soon, he hurriedly said, "Um... shall we go inside to talk? I brought gifts for the two seniors..." "Gifts? Something to eat?" "Yes, yes, exactly!" Su Yu quickly slipped into the passage. Better to head inside first; chatting aimlessly at the entrance risked being spotted. Before long, he entered the Ancient God Devourer Realm. The dense origin qi shocked even Su Yu. It was astonishingly thick! The entire Ancient God Devourer Realm was not very large, but it was densely packed with Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees everywhere—so many of them! A thought struck Su Yu, and he suddenly asked, "Senior, with so many Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees here... I've heard that Heaven Yuan Qi is born after powerful experts perish..." "That's right!" The big fur ball replied as if stating the obvious, "When I eat, I only eat divine characters. My wife only eats seas of will. We just bury the leftover corpses, and then trees sprout!" The hairs on Su Yu's body stood on end! *Vicious beasts!* *Monstrous terrors!* No wonder the origin qi here was so thick and the Heaven Yuan Fruit Trees were so numerous. Turns out they ate people and buried the remains to plant trees! Terrifying! He had known the Ancient God Devourer race was extraordinary. Even the little fur ball devoured people without the slightest mercy or hesitation. Sure enough, this entire race was made of ferocious monsters! Suppressing his tremor, Su Yu hurriedly brought out the two enormous Heaven Yuan Fruits. The big fur ball took a look and immediately grew interested. "What huge fruits! Too bad they're fake. For real ones to grow this big, you'd have to bury at least a Half-Emperor!" "..." *Go bury one yourself!* The mother ball gleefully snatched its share of the fruit and took a bite without standing on ceremony. With such a massive fruit, burrowing inside for a nap and a feast would be quite delightful! As for whether it was real or fake, it didn't matter; the taste was about the same. At this moment, the fur ball family of three flew toward the largest Heaven Yuan Fruit Tree. Su Yu glanced up; it was truly colossal, at least ten thousand meters tall! It was laden with immense Heaven Yuan Fruits as well! The big fur ball and its mate looked only about as large as the fruits, while the little fur ball was not even as big as one. Soon, the three flew to the treetop. Atop the canopy, layer upon layer of golden leaves were laid out, forming a nest. Those golden leaves were remarkably soft, yet tough and resilient. When Su Yu stepped lightly onto them, he felt a wave of dense origin qi seep from the foliage into his body. Such rich origin qi! "Senior... beneath this tree..." Knowing what he wanted to ask, the big fur ball answered casually, "Oh, buried underneath is an exceedingly formidable marquis. I didn't kill him; King Wen beat him near to death. Seeing he still had a breath left, I brought him back, ate his divine characters, and buried him!" *A formidable marquis!* *How formidable?* For the big fur ball to call him formidable, he had likely been at the peak of Dao Integration! Su Yu was speechless. Suddenly recalling something, he spoke again: "Then some years ago, Empr... Empress Senior..." The mother ball popped its head out of the giant Heaven Yuan Fruit. *Are you calling me?* The big fur ball said casually, "Just call her Chuibing. My wife's name is Chuibing..." Su Yu blanked for a second, feeling rather awkward. "Ahem, what I meant was, years ago, Senior Chui killed an Invincible of the god race. Why wasn't the corpse brought back to grow a tree?" He remembered someone mentioning this in the past. King Daming had once scavenged an intact God King's corpse! Over there, the mother ball bounced around atop the giant fruit. Hearing this, it answered nonchalantly, "Oh, right, I remember now. That day I was in a rush to go eat Tiangu, and I happened to spot someone with Human King bloodline, so I just tossed it to him on the way." "Human King bloodline?" Su Yu started slightly, asking hurriedly, "The Prison King bloodline?" "Probably not?" The mother ball asked in surprise, "Not the Prison King, I don't think..." Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Nowadays, he dreaded hearing the words 'Human King bloodline.' He immediately asked, "Is King Daming of Human King bloodline?" "Oh, that was King Daming?" The mother ball seemed to have only just learned this. It replied casually, "Several Eternals among the humans have Human King bloodlines, don't they?" Those with Human King bloodlines rose more easily. The Xia clan had it, and now the Zhu clan seemed to possess it too. Add in the hidden Prison King bloodline, and there were quite a few Human King bloodlines around. "Am I of Human King bloodline?" Su Yu was curious. If they could tell, could they tell his? Furthermore, if the big balls could see it, did that mean... they could see right through whoever had a Human King bloodline? And who possessed the Prison King bloodline? As he pondered, the mother ball said, "Throw a punch with all your might. Bloodlines can only be discerned when erupting!" Su Yu's heart stirred. That seemed to be true. Last time, the Old Turtle had also mentioned that bloodline marks only revealed themselves during a full-power outburst, and what Su Yu had previously seen had only been brought out intentionally by the other party to flaunt their bloodline. Su Yu put all his strength into a single punch! All three balls stared at him in unison. The big fur ball watched for a moment, then shook its round head. "I don't see any ancient bloodline power. You're not of Human King bloodline." Su Yu was puzzled. *I'm not? Then why is my talent so good?* His talent truly was exceptional. Whether in physical body or divine characters, his aptitude was superlative. Su Yu had assumed he carried some formidable bloodline. Since he didn't, could it be that the golden album had transformed him? Su Yu thought for a moment, then blurted out, "Could it be... I possess the Human Sovereign's bloodline?" "..." The big fur ball looked at him as if he were an idiot. After a long while, it said, "The Human Sovereign left no bloodline lineage behind!" *What is this guy thinking?* Su Yu was speechless! *None? Was the Human Sovereign an old bachelor?* It was rare for Su Yu to encounter such an ancient relic, let alone one closely tied to King Wen. At this moment, Su Yu felt somewhat reassured; at least this fellow wasn't talking about eating him anymore. Filled with curiosity, Su Yu asked respectfully, "Senior, you said King Wen and the Time Master were not the same person, and that King Wen forged the Heaven Hunting Ranking in imitation of the Time Record. Does that mean the Heaven Hunting Ranking was originally an intact weapon?" "Of course!" The big fur ball casually plucked a large Heaven Yuan Fruit and shoved it to the little fur ball, then plucked an even larger one for itself. While the family of three munched on the fruit, it answered, "It was indeed an intact weapon, but it shattered later on, its pieces scattering everywhere." Recalling something, Su Yu took out the "Record" character fragment. "Senior, is this a component of the Heaven Hunting Ranking?" The big fur ball sniffed it and thought for a moment. "The scent is about right. Probably." "Probably?" Su Yu pressed softly, "Senior, are you sure?" The big fur ball replied perfunctorily, "I've never eaten the Heaven Hunting Ranking, so how would I know! It roughly smells like this." Su Yu looked thoughtful. "Senior, I suspect this might be a fake. Do you think that's possible?" "Oh?" The big fur ball couldn't care less. "Then it's a fake, who cares!" *If it's fake, it's fake!* Su Yu quickly followed up: "Senior, if this thing was created in imitation of the Time Record, could the real Time Record control it?" "Probably?" The big fur ball replied uncertainly, "Just like a father disciplining his son, it should be able to keep it in line! Look, our boy here—I can hit him whenever I want!" *Smack!* It extended a paw and swatted the little fur ball flat into a pancake, saying casually, "So the Time Record can probably smack the Heaven Hunting Ranking like this too!" A vivid analogy! Su Yu understood immediately! Meanwhile, the little fur ball wore an aggrieved expression. Pitifully re-inflating itself into a ball, it rolled slightly farther away from the big fur ball. *My daddy is so violent!* At this moment, Su Yu let out a soft breath. Coming here had already yielded massive revelations: King Wen and the Time Master were not the same person, being male and female respectively, and the Heaven Hunting Ranking was effectively the 'son' of the Time Record rather than a piece of it. Then was that thing inside his own head the Time Record? In other words, what he had assumed to be an incomplete golden album might not be incomplete at all—it could very well be complete! Since the ranking was an imitation, did that mean the Time Record actually possessed all the functions of the Heaven Hunting Ranking, but Su Yu simply hadn't discovered them yet? Framed this way, it piqued Su Yu's interest in the golden album even more! Su Yu still had many questions, but fearing he might annoy this senior, he held back and decided to build rapport instead. "Senior, have you visited the Human Realm in recent years?" "Nope." Doubao wobbled slightly. "Never went. No point going, and besides, I haven't been awake for long." It hadn't even had the chance to go. "Then does Senior know that the Human Realm today is completely different from the past?" "Oh?" Doubao asked curiously, "How is it different? Can divine characters be grown now? Do they grow on trees?" "..." Su Yu felt awkward, but his eyes flickered. "Come to think of it, that might actually be possible!" It genuinely was possible! Su Yu seemed to recall hearing that the Great Zhou Prefecture might truly be researching this! "Oh? Really?" Doubao's interest was piqued at once. "Divine characters can really be grown? Do farmed divine characters taste good?" *That... I have no idea.* *Who asks whether divine characters taste good or not?* Su Yu pondered and said, "From the perspective of farmed versus wild, farmed ones might have a slightly inferior flavor, but I don't think the difference would be too big." A bubble materialized beside Doubao... within it was a big fur ball perched on a tree roughly the same size as this Heaven Yuan Fruit Tree, but bearing divine characters instead of fruit. The fur ball was gobbling down divine characters! One, two, three... Soon, the bubble popped. Su Yu was rendered speechless! *What was that?* *I'm genuinely impressed!* *That's a thing too?* *Was Doubao daydreaming just now?* The big fur ball quickly shook itself awake, looking at Su Yu in a daze. "Is that tree big? How do you plant a divine character tree? Can you teach me?" Over there, the mother ball chimed in, "I'm sick of eating divine characters. Are there trees that grow seas of will?" Su Yu hurriedly replied, "Whether it's a tree or not, I honestly don't know. I've only heard that artificially farmed divine characters exist. As for whether it's true, I can't say for sure." "Not sure?" Doubao seemed rather displeased. Su Yu immediately added, "Actually, Senior could go take a look—visit the Human Realm!" Doubao shook its head. "Not going! The Human Realm definitely isn't as fun as it used to be..." "There are bound to be fun places!" "Still no... The Human Realm won't let me in!" Su Yu smiled warmly. "If Senior truly wishes to enter, I can find a way! As long as Senior doesn't run around recklessly or slaughter indiscriminately, I can show Senior around the grand sights of the Human Realm and let you savor all kinds of delicacies!" "Swindler, you just want to trick me into being your muscle!" Doubao muttered. Su Yu froze, embarrassed. "Senior misunderstands!" "I haven't misunderstood at all!" Doubao sneered in disdain. "This seat has lived for countless years and seen through swindlers like you long ago! All you know is deceit, with no respect for the elderly or love for the young!" Su Yu was exasperated. He had thought this elder was easy to talk to, but its blunt words were excruciatingly awkward. "Senior, that wasn't what I meant..." "Oh, then I definitely won't be your muscle!" "Senior, I... I am inviting Senior to lend me a hand, to restore the order of the Human Realm and revive the glory of King Wen!" Doubao nodded. "Fine. You want to be King Wen?" "Well... ahem, Senior can treat me as King Wen. I am King Wen's successor; the Multiple Divine Characters faction is King Wen's legacy..." "If you're King Wen, back then King Wen promised to give me a hundred Dao Integration divine characters to eat. Do you have them?" "..." Su Yu felt like crying! Never mind Dao Integration, he didn't even possess an Eternal divine character. Turns out this old fellow was just messing with him! "Little guy, be sincere!" Doubao gave him a look laden with meaning: *I've eaten more divine characters than you've ever seen. Divine characters enlighten the mind; you're far too foolish, little guy! Trying to pull a fast one on this lord?* Helpless, Su Yu gave a bitter smile. "Here's the truth: I want to visit the Human Realm, but I'm afraid of being killed. Someone is plotting against me, so I wanted Senior to accompany me on a trip. That's all there is to it!" Only then did Doubao nod. "Keep it simple! Complex talk is for the young. We are old, and the elderly prefer simple words!" Su Yu nodded. *Fine.* Sure enough, the older one gets, the shrewder they become... or in this case, the older the ball, the shrewder it became! Compared to the little fur ball, Doubao was vastly harder to fool. The big fur ball yawned. "I'm old and lazy. I fought a few battles recently and didn't get enough to eat, so I don't really want to move around!" Su Yu was disheartened! It seemed his trip had been in vain. Just then, the little fur ball suddenly piped up, "Daddy, let's go together! Maybe fragrant guy can catch some things for us to eat!" The big fur ball continued yawning. "What could he catch for us to eat? Eat Tiangu or Jiwu? If not them, that Warden of Heaven would do too!" It added, "Eating that Old Turtle would work as well!" *The Old Turtle tastes great too!* Su Yu was embarrassed. *Forget it, I have no way to serve up powerhouses like that for you to eat—they're way too strong!* It seemed bringing a Dao Integrator along to act as his Dao protector was out of reach. While the big fur ball was sluggish, the mother ball asked inquisitively, "So there's no divine character tree? And what does the Human Realm look like nowadays?" Indeed, the big fur ball had no interest, but the mother ball loved wandering around. The big fur ball was a homebody, but not the mother ball! Chuibing had boundless patience—she had staked out Tiangu outside the Immortal Realm for hundreds of years! She also enjoyed roaming about; otherwise, she wouldn't have killed a God King and left the corpse for King Daming to scavenge. Su Yu's eyes flickered. Seeing through his thoughts, the big fur ball said lazily, "Young lad, you'd better think it through! My wife has an awful temper..." "Husband, my temper is great!" "Great? Then why do you eat so much?" "I don't eat that much!" "Nonsense, you almost ate me!" "That was because I was starving!" "..." Su Yu's heart thumped with dread listening to the couple bicker. What did that mean—the mother ball had a terrible temper and ate people indiscriminately? Even the big fur ball had almost been eaten by her? As he hesitated, the mother ball spoke up: "Little guy, you're looking for someone to help you fight? I'll go! I'll accompany you to the Human Realm! Are there many people cultivating divine characters in the Human Realm?" Su Yu was at a loss. "Um, Senior Chui, maybe we should forget about it." "How could we forget about it?" The mother ball's temper truly seemed short as it snapped in annoyance, "You're looking for someone to fight, and I'm right here! Why not take me?" "..." Su Yu felt like crying, thoroughly alarmed. *Because you look far less reliable than the big fur ball!* *The big fur ball is at least somewhat dependable!* Thus, even though this Dao Integrator volunteered herself, Su Yu worried things would spiral out of control. He had no way to restrain her; if she went on a slaughter spree in the Human Realm, he wouldn't even be able to stop her! Naturally, he didn't dare say this out loud, so he made up an excuse: "I'm just worried Senior Chui might be too exhausted. On this return to the Human Realm, I might run into tremendous trouble..." "Then there's even more reason to fight! Fighting means getting full!" "No, I..." The mother ball grew irritated. "Do you think I'm not as strong as my husband?" "Not at all!" The mother ball huffed, "I *am* not as strong as my husband, you liar!" Su Yu felt mentally drained! Even among balls, the female was harder to deal with than the male. The big fur ball pondered for a moment and said, "Then let Chuibing go with you. My wife's strength is quite formidable. Though, I see you're worried about Chuibing killing indiscriminately..." Su Yu nodded silently. *Yes, exactly.* "You don't need to worry too much about that... Chuibing looks down on ordinary folks! Those who are truly powerful are all enemies anyway, and your human race hardly has any top powerhouses left!" There... didn't seem to be anything wrong with that reasoning. Hadn't Chuibing looked down on King Daming as well? She hadn't eaten him! So she probably wouldn't care for ordinary Invincibles either. Su Yu thought it over and said, "Senior Chui, if... if you wish to come with me to the Human Realm, could you let me know before you decide to eat someone?" "Sure, I'll eat them after letting you know!" "No... what I mean is, some people cannot be eaten. If I say someone can't be eaten, can Senior refrain from eating them?" The mother ball replied unhappily, "Wouldn't that be stifling?" "No, no... what I mean is, if you don't eat them now, you can eat better ones later! How does that sound, Senior?" Chuibing considered it and said reluctantly, "I suppose that's fine! Seeing as you've raised our little one so plump and chubby, I'll trust you this once!" *Plump and chubby!* Su Yu glanced at the little fur ball. *Is it?* *Why do I feel it looks exactly the same as when I first met it!* If Chuibing truly listened, bringing her to the Human Realm would certainly guarantee his safety. His main concern remained her disobedience and his inability to restrain her! If she slipped into the Human Realm with him and went on a killing rampage, he would become a sinner of the race. Beside them, Doubao yawned, exhausted. "It's no big deal. Chuibing won't slaughter randomly. Just like you—would you go around stomping on ants with nothing better to do?" The little fur ball chimed in, "He would!" Su Yu was speechless. *When have I ever done that?* *This guy is talking nonsense!* Doubao was equally speechless and swatted the little fur ball once more, then turned to Su Yu. "Did you come here just for this?" "Yes." "Then let Chuibing go with you!" Su Yu thought about it, nodded, and then asked with some hesitation, "Senior, may I ask a question?" "Ask." "Little fur... ahem, Your Highness has been staying with me, as Senior knows. Why didn't you bring it back?" This had puzzled him all along. Why not bring it back? Doubao said nonchalantly, "Why bring it back? Bringing it back makes it hard to grow! Our race has a symbiotic nature. It's best to find a companion divine character cultivator to grow alongside... Back then, I grew up alongside King Wen." Su Yu asked in confusion, "Senior... did you truly transform from King Wen's divine character?" Doubao stared at him. Su Yu felt his heart leap—had he asked something taboo? Doubao hesitated, but said nonetheless, "To say yes, you could say that! But in reality, not quite! Put it this way... Forget it, you probably wouldn't understand. I am actually a rule... Do you understand rules? And then, King Wen nurtured sentience within me..." Su Yu understood! He nodded. "I understand! A natural divine character is inherently a rule. Divine characters are rules, and Senior was a rule that birthed sentience. However, according to my previous deductions, if Senior is like this, you should be in the Great Dao Realm—the level of a Human King. Why are you only at Dao Integration?" Doubao gave him a peculiar look. He actually understood! "You're quite clever; indeed it is so! I can be considered a natural divine character born of a rule. Later, King Wen encountered me, and through prolonged nurturing, I gained sentience... King Wen did not extinguish my sentience; instead, he severed me from himself. Thereafter, the heavens had Doubao!" "As for why I am at Dao Integration..." Doubao considered for a moment and said, "Because I am incomplete. I don't count as a complete rule!" Su Yu's heart suddenly stirred. His peripheral vision caught Chuibing and the little fur ball. Doubao seemed to read his thoughts and explained, "My wife and our boy are both rules I nurtured myself... not to supplement my own rule. The two of them are independent rules—just... just independent ones, you understand?" "I was too lonely..." Doubao sighed wistfully. "So after King Wen vanished, I nurtured my wife. Later on, my wife went outside and went missing too. I was too lazy to go look for her, so I nurtured our boy!" "..." In that instant, Su Yu understood completely! These were the embodiments of three rules! He grasped it! Whether Doubao, Chuibing, or the little fur ball—calling them a family was valid, but in truth, they were three distinct rules! Su Yu suddenly said, "So your love for eating divine characters and seas of will is actually to replenish rules! The little fur ball too—it loves licking divine characters because they contain rule power, and licking them helps it perfect its own rule power?" Doubao nodded. "You are very smart; talking to someone like you isn't tiring. Others have a hard time understanding—they're all foolish! They always say we only love to eat and kill... That's not it. We only like eating things that can perfect ourselves, such as rule power, or rule and law power on divine characters." This time, Su Yu truly understood! What they needed was rule power! Not divine characters, not origin qi—none of that. Simply rules. "So by staying with me, the little fur ball can absorb some of the rule power in my divine characters?" The big fur ball nodded. "Yes. In fact, it won't harm your divine characters either, because your divine characters naturally dissipate unwanted rule power, just like breathing. The little guy can absorb this power, and the purer the divine character, the more it likes it!" Su Yu nodded. Understood! No wonder the little fur ball loved natural divine characters—their rule power was presumably purer. Meanwhile, the little fur ball wiped away tears. "Daddy, wasn't I born from you?" Doubao chuckled, "It's all the same. You were originally mindless rule power, and I nurtured you into being, so of course you count as born from me!" Su Yu chimed in, "Senior, then are you unable to advance?" "Not necessarily, but the rule power I require is too immense. Ideally, it would be mindless, pure, and mighty rule power to replenish me. If King Wen hadn't vanished, I might have been able to advance under his nurturing. But he disappeared, and no one else has divine characters powerful enough to nurture me..." From this, one could see just how terrifyingly strong King Wen had been! He had been able to nurture Doubao and elevate it toward the level of a Human King. Unfortunately, King Wen had vanished. It was nearly impossible for Doubao to receive feeding of that intensity now. Relying on itself, perfecting its rule power to advance to the next level was extraordinarily difficult. Only today did Su Yu truly grasp what this race represented. They were pure rules! They simply weren't strong enough yet. For this race, reaching Dao Integration was probably easy, but after Dao Integration, perfecting an entire rule was likely arduous! The little fur ball could probably advance to Dao Integration with ease, but the path beyond would be steep and narrow. It would need to constantly perfect its own rule power! Su Yu was filled with boundless amazement. The vast world was full of wonders; rules could actually transform into living beings! Terrifying existences, with a foundation far too profound. Yet it seemed there were only three of them. King Wen had truly been a figure of monumental vision and magnanimity. Back then, upon nurturing sentience within a rule, he had not extinguished it, instead allowing it to become an independent lifeform. That was not something an ordinary person could do. Had he obliterated it, King Wen might have controlled an additional rule. Doubao was remarkably straightforward, or perhaps it simply didn't mind Su Yu knowing. When Su Yu asked, it answered; had he not asked, it was probably too lazy to bring it up. "Senior, I heard the Warden of Heaven attained the Dao as a destiny spirit. Is he an existence like you?" *Did he also attain the Dao from a rule?* "Him?" Doubao shook its head. "He's not. A destiny spirit... is a kind of natural-born creature that relies on absorbing destiny to strengthen itself! Destiny is an ethereal thing; it's hard for us to see, and we can only sense who carries great fortune! But a destiny spirit can see it, and the Warden of Heaven grew by devouring destiny! That's why he is determined to obtain the Heaven Hunting Ranking... Back then, King Wen gave him charge of the ranking partly for this reason. When geniuses whose auras were gathered by the ranking died, their destiny would fall into the ranking, which was the best and easiest way for the Warden of Heaven to strengthen himself..." Doubao understood the Warden of Heaven intimately. It continued, "So ever since King Wen vanished, the Warden of Heaven has wanted to claim it as his own. But he feared King Wen might return, so he never dared! Instead, he secretly stirred up chaos, prompting geniuses to slaughter one another. All these years, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion has walked this exact path—all to empower himself and swallow the Heaven Hunting Ranking along the way." Su Yu realized the truth! So that was why! The Heaven Hunting Pavilion had perpetually sown chaos. Its sole purpose was stirring up trouble, trouble, and more trouble! They wanted nothing more than for the geniuses on the ranking to slaughter one another! It turned out all of this was intentionally engineered by the Warden of Heaven to empower himself. In ancient times, the Heaven Hunting Pavilion was the Heaven Monitoring Pavilion, overseeing the heavens. Later on, it turned into hunting the geniuses of the heavens! A destiny spirit! As Su Yu contemplated this, Doubao added, "The Warden of Heaven is actually very troublesome to deal with. By devouring destiny, he possesses immense fortune himself. People like that are exceedingly hard to kill! He has been operating out in the open all this time, yet has never died precisely because he is strong and phenomenally lucky. Otherwise, powerhouses active on the All-Heavens Battlefield like him have long died out, leaving him as the sole survivor!" Other experts were not active across every tide, let alone remaining on the All-Heavens Battlefield without ever leaving! Only the Warden of Heaven had stayed through them all! Yet he had never perished! "Phenomenally lucky?" Su Yu murmured, "My luck is quite good too!" Doubao replied casually, "So he definitely wants to hunt you!" Su Yu nodded slightly. "Is Senior his match?" Doubao thought it over and shook its head. "Probably not. Across the myriad realms of the heavens, the only one who can beat him right now is probably that Old Turtle! Currently, the strongest in the myriad realms is likely the Old Turtle, followed perhaps by the Warden of Heaven, and after that, probably Tiangu!" Su Yu paused in surprise. "Didn't Tiangu emerge later than Senior's era? Toward the end of the ancient era, his strength didn't seem particularly high." "That's true, but he is exceedingly gifted!" Doubao explained, "His talent is immense. In the ancient era, even though he wasn't particularly powerful, he was renowned. He sparred with the disciples of King Wen and King Wu, and he won every single time! That's why we know who he is!" Indeed, figures like Doubao knew of Tiangu even though Tiangu hadn't attained the Dao by the end of the ancient era! Clearly, he too was a peerless genius! And as for the Old Turtle claiming he could take on two at once... sure enough, the number one taking on numbers two and three—formidable! Previously, Su Yu had thought Tiangu wasn't that strong. At least weaker than Doubao. Only now did he realize Doubao was inferior to Tiangu. "Then is Senior fourth?" "Fourth?" Doubao shook its head. "Don't know. Some fellows are very formidable too. For instance, that old man of the Life race is extremely powerful. I even had his grandfather tell my fortune back in the day, and his grandfather said I could eat Tiangu, but I never managed to..." Doubao still sounded a bit regretful. "Tiangu actually smells very delicious too!" Clearly, at their level, judging who was stronger or weaker without fighting was nearly impossible! The mother ball was likely slightly weaker than Doubao; who knew if she could handle powerful Dao Integrators. Having asked all this, Su Yu had nothing left to ask. Being able to rope in the mother ball was already a great success. Just as he was considering how to take his leave, Doubao suddenly said, "If you're going to leave, leave early! I want to sleep. When I sleep, I like to dream, and when I dream, I like to eat... Su Yu, you smell very delicious. If I fall asleep, I might eat you!" Su Yu was speechless. *Fine, saved me the trouble of finding an excuse!* *Time to leave!* Su Yu looked toward the mother ball. "Senior Chui, how will you accompany me? My sea of will... might not be able to withstand you..." Yawning with complete indifference, the mother ball vanished instantly. In that moment, Su Yu's head grew heavy. The next instant, a book manifested in his hands. On the pages, right between the two characters for 'Civilization,' perched a slightly larger round ball! The mother ball had entered the Civilization Chronicle! The little fur ball also vanished in a flash, and atop the 'Calamity' divine character in Su Yu's sea of will, an extra ball appeared. This family certainly knew how to pick their spots! Doubao paid no heed to this. Glancing at Su Yu's Civilization Chronicle, it said sluggishly, "You want to forge a Time Record too? The Time Record is formidable. King Wen once said the Time Master wanted to forge a Record of All Arts, but incurred too much slaughter and karma, so the Time Master was bound to meet disaster sooner or later... and sure enough, disaster struck!" *The Record of All Arts!* Su Yu's heart stirred. *What is the Record of All Arts?* Just as the thought crossed his mind, a wave of dizziness washed over him, and he vanished from the spot, hurled out by the big fur ball! Having tossed him out, the big fur ball let out a breath of relief, murmuring, "Finally, I can get a good sleep!" Ever since his wife returned, she had clamored about eating Tiangu every single day! He had grown thoroughly sick of hearing it! They were finally gone; Su Yu truly was a good person. The big fur ball felt secretly grateful. Su Yu had taken away his wife and the little troublemaker who caused chaos all day long. There was no way he was going to fetch them back! *Fetch them back?* *If they're back, how could I ever sleep!* Playing with them when bored was fine, but keeping them around constantly was far too annoying! Overjoyed to be rid of the two fur balls, the big fur ball curled up happily to sleep. At long last, it could enjoy a sweet dream!