Sovereign of the Two Realms of Life and Death

Su Yu had visited all three races: the Space Ancient Beasts, the Ancient Hou, and the Iron-Eaters. As for the Ancient God Devourer race, Su Yu wasn't planning on heading over there for now. Nor did he visit the Archaic Giant race. Their situation was complicated, and without absolute overwhelming strength to suppress them, Su Yu had no desire to take reckless risks. Boldness was one thing, but one still needed confidence and certainty. The Archaic Giants were a major race; beyond the Dao Integration Archaic Giant King, they possessed dozens of powerhouses in the Invincible Realm. If he were truly surrounded inside the Archaic Giant Realm, even Su Yu would find it hard to escape with his life. He needed to find a way to enter the Star Residence Mansion. That was what he ought to be doing right now! Harboring the dream of storming into the Upper Realm, Su Yu needed to make himself stronger—not just himself, but also his friends and his comrades-in-arms, including Tianmie and the others! And as for Tianmie and the rest... if he wanted to free them, the best method right now was to sort out the Dead Spirit Realm first, arrange for weaker Invincibles to take over the suppression, liberate Tianmie and the others, and claim heaven and earth's rewards so they could step into Dao Integration! If Tianmie and the others could all reach Dao Integration... that would be an unimaginably formidable force! Thirty-six top-tier powerhouses! ... Hongmeng Ancient City. It was quiet as always. And near the city gates, just like last time, an ignorant little demon beast was wandering and cultivating. It didn't dare enter the city, but as long as Hongmeng Ancient City was here, the little creature would come to cultivate. Su Yu stepped through the air. At the city gates, the little beast shrank back in fear. A peerless powerhouse! Su Yu glanced over. This was the second time he had seen this little demon. Smiling, he casually tossed down a chunk of dragon meat. Without paying it any more mind, Su Yu strode into the city through the air. The little demon was frightened, yet it couldn't resist the temptation, swimming cautiously toward the meat. At that moment, the chunk of meat radiated a powerful aura, crystal clear and translucent, wafting a potent fragrance. The instant the little demon drew near, it felt wracking pain across its entire body, nearly unable to bear the immense pressure emanating from the meat. From within the city, Old Turtle's soft chuckle drifted over: "Don't just toss chunks of Eternal meat around. It might be nothing to you, but to that little creature, it's practically poison. It'll burst and die from overconsumption." Su Yu laughed. "Hardly. Besides, if it's truly foolish enough not to distinguish an opportunity from a deadly crisis... then dying only means its fortune wasn't meant to be! I have no sympathy for anyone who eats themselves to death." "Cold-blooded fellow," Old Turtle quipped. Su Yu chuckled, "You truly misunderstand me, Senior. I only gave it a chance because I saw it a second time. How does that make me cold-blooded?" Old Turtle gave a laugh and dropped the topic. The Castellan Manor opened, and in the back courtyard, a tea table emerged. Old Turtle said with a light smile, "The aroma of good tea—I smell it." "You have quite the sharp nose, Senior!" With those words, several tea leaves drifted from Su Yu's hand and settled into the translucent teacup before Old Turtle. The next instant, Old Turtle waved a hand; the Sea of Stars stirred, and drop after drop of pure water essence condensed to steep the leaves. Fragrance suffused the air! Old Turtle's nose twitched slightly. "Such rich fragrance! There's Dao resonance manifesting within it—are these leaves from that tea spirit? What an honor! A Dao Integration tea spirit's leaves—scarcely anyone other than Great Dao powerhouses could ever enjoy such treatment!" Indeed, the tea spirit's leaves were not something ordinary people could ever enjoy. Su Yu sat across from Old Turtle and smiled. "Senior flatters me. The tea spirit was gracious enough to gift me a few leaves, and thinking of how much you enjoy tea, I accepted them." "You..." Old Turtle chuckled. "You have become the Master of the Human Realm. Back in ancient times, that would have made you the Sovereign of the human race. There's no need to call me 'Senior' with every other breath." "Senior jokes!" Su Yu laughed. "One who has achieved more deserves respect as a master. Do I not owe my current standing to the lineage of the sacred cities? If I were not the Master of the Sacred Cities, does Senior truly think the human race would acknowledge me as their ruler?" Old Turtle gave a low laugh. "Even without us, you would have risen sooner or later." "That's merely a hypothetical!" Having taken his seat, Su Yu waited for the tea. Once Old Turtle finished brewing, Su Yu lifted the teacup, took a gentle sip, and savored the sensation before smiling. "Fine tea. No matter how many times I drink it, it's still magnificent tea!" Old Turtle also took a small sip, then let out a sigh after a brief moment. "What is the matter, Senior?" "This tea is wonderful, but alas... having tasted it, no other tea will ever catch my eye again. Even the Xuantian tea Marquis Jiantian brought last time falls short by a notch!" Su Yu smiled. "Senior mentioned last time that this Xuantian tea came from the eighth floor?" "Indeed." Su Yu asked again, "Senior, is that gatekeeper on the eighth floor a person, or is it the rules?" "Is there a difference between rules and a person?" Old Turtle smiled. "What do you think?" Su Yu pondered for a moment, then suggested, "Could it be... Marquis Gatekeeper?" "..." Old Turtle chuckled helplessly. "You and your wild names! Marquis Gatekeeper... there was never any such marquis! If I am not mistaken, the gatekeeper on the eighth floor is likely Marquis Tongtian." "It's really a person?" "Not a person," Old Turtle explained. "The eighth floor leads to the All Races Council. In ancient times, there was a gateway there known as the Gate of Tongtian! If someone remains on the eighth floor, it is almost certainly Marquis Tongtian—the spirit of that gateway! In the ancient era, Marquis Tongtian proved his Dao and advanced to Dao Integration, and was subsequently enfeoffed as a marquis! Only he would still be lingering in the Star Residence Mansion at this hour, guarding the door to the eighth floor for the mansion!" Old Turtle hadn't mentioned this last time. Evidently, as your status and stature changed, others would share different things with you. When your strength was insufficient, knowing certain things was utterly useless anyway. Su Yu smiled and asked, "Senior, are there any other living beings on the eighth floor?" "Truly no one knows." Old Turtle spoke, then asked, "Are you planning to enter the Star Residence Mansion again?" "I am!" Su Yu smiled. "If possible, I would even hope you could accompany me, Senior!" "I cannot!" Old Turtle shook his head. "If I leave, the Eastern Heavenly King will very likely make a move. However, if you truly intend to go... you could take several of Tianmie and the others with you. I can help suppress their dead spirit passages!" Su Yu thought about it and nodded. Then he asked, "Senior, what if I find several Eternals right now to help suppress the dead spirit passages? Would that work?" "High-stage at the very least!" Old Turtle said solemnly. "Eternals below the high stages will struggle to suppress them! Moreover, the Petrification Technique is no longer available. That was King Gong's method back then, and without Great Dao powerhouse cultivation, it is practically impossible to cast today! In the past, the Dao of Petrification could neutralize death qi. Now, without it, if you find replacements, they would likely face the risk of death qi corrosion within thirty to fifty years!" Su Yu nodded slightly, then asked, "What if we sweep clean the Dead Spirit Realm?" "Impossible!" Old Turtle shook his head. "It's impossible. Even the thirty-six dead spirit monarchs suppressed below—even if you kill them, the power of rules will soon pull another batch over!" Su Yu smiled. "What about suppressing them? What if we suppress all thirty-six dead spirit monarchs completely? I won't kill them! That way, the rules shouldn't pull replacements in, right?" Old Turtle looked at him and fell into deep thought. Su Yu continued, "I need you seniors to come out and aid me! With your full combat prowess completely unleashed!" Currently, the stone statues were not operating with their combat power fully unleashed. Old Turtle said solemnly, "Difficult! Furthermore, if the ancient cities are removed, suppressing the passages becomes even harder! Tianmie and the others can suppress them now, but once those weapons are retrieved, even ninth-stage Eternals will barely be able to hold them down!" Su Yu pondered, then said, "Senior, I believe the Dead Spirit Realm still has to be resolved! You cannot continue suppressing the dead spirit passages forever. It has already been a hundred thousand years—how much longer can you hold out?" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "I don't believe dead spirit monarchs are infinite! First, suppress the thirty-six monarchs; if they can't be suppressed, kill them! Kill every one the rules pull over! As many as are drawn, that's how many I'll slay—until there isn't a single monarch left in the entire Dead Spirit Realm! If even that fails, we establish our own faction in the Dead Spirit Realm and nurture a dead spirit force loyal to us..." With that, he looked at Old Turtle. "Senior, having suppressed this place for a hundred thousand years, did you never establish your own faction?" "..." Old Turtle looked left and right, evading the subject. "That would have been pointless..." Su Yu sighed. "I understand. These past hundred thousand years, Senior was... too busy sleeping to have the time, correct?" "..." Why did he have to be so blunt! Old Turtle coughed lightly. "It wasn't just that. Put it this way: until dead spirits reach the Dao Integration level, it is exceedingly difficult for them to anchor their true nature! Without their original minds and nature intact, you could subjugate one today and have him turn on you tomorrow! In fact, I did try some years back, but... sigh! The few dead spirit monarchs I brought under my wing soon forgot I even existed and went right back to acting like overlords... Tell me, what could I do?" Some things simply couldn't be done. He continued, "I supported Hetu in establishing his own faction, and Hetu did indeed rope in quite a few dead spirit monarchs. And yet... it was also useless! Only the Eastern King Manor can do it, because the Eastern King possesses the Dead Spirit Heavenly King Seal! With that seal, he can forcefully suppress dead spirits and alter certain rules of the Dead Spirit Realm... He is orthodox! Thus, he can govern the Dead Spirit Realm, whereas I... cannot. I am merely the Spirit Guarding General! I can suppress dead spirits, but I cannot rule them!" "The Eastern King Manor..." Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "Senior, could you tell me more about this Eastern King Manor?" Old Turtle considered for a moment. "In the Dead Spirit Realm, there are four Heavenly King-level powerhouses. These so-called Heavenly Kings are in fact at the Dao Integration level, but all stand at the very peak of Dao Integration! The absolute pinnacle! Back then, no Great Dao-level powerhouse was willing to put down roots in the Dead Spirit Realm, so the four strongest Dao Integration experts were brought to heel by the Human Sovereign..." "Brought to heel?" "Beaten into submission!" Old Turtle smiled. "Back when the Human Kings campaigned in the Dead Spirit Realm, King Ming, King Zhan, and King Wu all came here. They beat the dead spirits of this realm into submission, established rules, and unified the Dead Spirit Realm! They enfeoffed four Heavenly Kings: Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern! They left several exits behind—which are where the thirty-six cities stand today. It was called a sliver of vitality, so as not to sever all hope for the dead spirits, and also left behind for the unification of the two realms..." Old Turtle added, "The region I suppress, including the area where the Star Residence Mansion sits, belongs to the Eastern King Domain of the Dead Spirit Realm. Of course, it borders the other domains as well; it serves as something of a transit hub! The Dead Spirit Heavenly River actually loops in a circle, cordoning off a territory—and that is the area King Gong and I suppress! "Outside the Dead Spirit Heavenly River lies their territory. Enfeoffed by the ancient Human Sovereign, they too are orthodox!" "..." Old Turtle laid out the situation of the Dead Spirit Realm to Su Yu, details he had never mentioned before. According to Old Turtle, the region he and King Gong suppressed was essentially situated together within a circle bounded by the Dead Spirit Heavenly River! Inside the circle was their domain. Outside the circle were the four top-tier Dao Integration experts enfeoffed in antiquity, all extraordinarily formidable. Powerful as Old Turtle was, even he could not match the Eastern Heavenly King. And the Eastern Heavenly King and his Eastern King Manor were the closest to Old Turtle. King Gong's side was slightly closer to the Western King Manor, but generally comparable. "In the Dead Spirit Realm, the four King Manors actually had quite a few Dao Integration experts back in the day. Many deceased Dao Integration experts revived here as dead spirits and were drafted by the four King Manors to serve as officials..." At this point, Old Turtle gave a wry smile. "Sometimes... fate is cruel! Back then, few human powerhouses died, so the various King Manors were dominated by Dao Integration experts from all the other races. Especially during the human campaigns across the myriad realms, numerous Dao Integration experts were slain, and subsequently, they awakened and revived one after another... As for the humans, there truly weren't many Dao Integration experts among them! Some did revive, but over the nine tidal changes, the Dead Spirit Realm experienced constant turmoil. Some human marquises were slain again after reviving... losing any chance of reviving ever again!" Old Turtle sighed, then continued, "To my knowledge, the Eastern King Manor oversees twelve dead spirit marquises. Only one among them is human; the remaining eleven hail from other races. We slew two dead spirit marquises previously, so aside from the human one, nine dead spirit marquises remain! Plus the Eastern Heavenly King himself, a top-tier Dao Integration expert!" He added, "As for the dead spirit monarchs under their command, there are even more!" Old Turtle looked at Su Yu. "In my Spirit Guarding Domain, the Eastern Heavenly King stirs up the most trouble. And because he is ancient orthodoxy, he sometimes crosses the border to escort away revived dead spirits." "Escort away?" Su Yu frowned. "Why escort them away?" "According to the rules, any powerhouse of the Dao Integration or seventh stage of Eternal or higher who revives in the Spirit Guarding Domain is supposed to report to the four King Manors for duty!" Old Turtle said helplessly, "This, too, is the rule... The ancient intent was to ensure that the region we suppress wouldn't harbor too many powerhouses, preventing them from breaching the Living Realm! As it turned out, that has now become their pretext to apprehend Hetu. Hetu indeed does not comply with the rules! And not just Hetu—Xia Chen as well! Other seventh-stage Eternal dead spirits might have advanced later on, but those who revived already at the seventh stage cannot remain... With Hetu, it was my own selfish sentiment that made me forcibly keep him here! "That is why the Eastern Heavenly King approached me multiple times demanding Hetu report to the Eastern King Manor, and I never consented." Hetu was never supposed to revive here! Well, he had directly entered the Dead Spirit Realm back then. Even so, Hetu was meant to go to the Eastern King Manor. In the end, Old Turtle had committed another rule violation by harboring Hetu without authorization. Thus, Old Turtle smiled bitterly. "Because I violated the rules first, even though I am the Spirit Guarding General and should by rights be able to suppress them... they come bearing official mandates, so the rules won't aid me... When they cross the border, I can barely use the rules to suppress them! Otherwise, entering my domain wouldn't be anywhere near that easy!" Su Yu thought about it and understood. Then Su Yu said in surprise, "Senior, just send Hetu and Senior Xia Chen away. Next time they come, you can suppress them with the rules!" "..." Old Turtle drew a sharp breath. "How could I do that?!" What a joke! "I personally slew Hetu back then! If his dead spirit is escorted away now and killed in the Eastern King Manor... King Gong's bloodline will be completely extinguished. King Gong looked out for me immensely back in the day; slaying Hetu back then was already... an act of utter helplessness!" Su Yu pondered and asked, "Senior, so many Human Kings died—did none of them revive?" Old Turtle thought for a bit. "I'm not sure. Either they slumber within the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, or they are in the four King Manors, or in other dead spirit regions. In any case, I haven't seen any powerhouses above Dao Integration revive here..." He added, "Or perhaps after dying, they were never summoned. I cannot say! Perhaps you could find an opportunity to open a dead spirit passage in your Human Realm to see..." Old Turtle smiled. "Every minor and major realm shares a peculiarity: opening a dead spirit passage locally often connects to dead spirit regions where the dead of your race are concentrated. If you open a passage in the Human Realm, if any Human Kings truly fell, you might see a few..." Su Yu smiled. "Never mind, I have no interest in that for now!" With that, Su Yu tapped lightly on the table. "Senior, setting all else aside, the Spirit Guarding Domain must be unified! Do you think we can take down the Eastern Heavenly King? From what I see, the one colluding the most with all the races is him!" Old Turtle furrowed his brows and said in a grave voice, "Difficult! More than ten Dao Integration powerhouses—and even I am no match for the Eastern Heavenly King! In these myriad realms... perhaps... only that one whose Dao you borrowed might match him! Otherwise, it would take me plus another Dao Integration expert just to suppress the Eastern Heavenly King. And excluding the human, there are nine other Dao Integrations under him. Combined, that requires eleven Dao Integrations to match them... Even if Marquis Lanshan acts, it would still take ten Dao Integration experts..." He looked at Su Yu. "Furthermore, there is a vast host of dead spirit monarchs. To take down the Eastern King Manor, without fifteen Dao Integration combatants, don't even think about it! And you must also guard against reinforcements from the other three King Manors... In the end, you would have to take down the Eastern Heavenly King swiftly. Without twenty Dao Integration experts, pulling it off smoothly is nearly impossible!" Su Yu bared his teeth. "Twenty Dao Integrations?" "Yes!" Su Yu chuckled dryly. "The... the entire myriad realms combined barely have that many Dao Integrations! If I could truly rally that many, I'd have flattened the myriad realms first!" Saying that, Su Yu asked again, "Senior, is there no other way?" Old Turtle pondered for a moment. "What is your purpose in wanting to take the Dead Spirit Realm?" "To liberate the guards!" Su Yu smiled. "In addition, to turn the Dead Spirit Realm into my retreat route! When I open the Dead Spirit Realm, I want it filled with my people, not folks looking to kill me! How am I supposed to play when some marquis pops out at every turn?" "Difficult!" Old Turtle said solemnly, "Su Yu, it's far too difficult!" Su Yu nodded, his expression turning serious. "I know. But my current thought is this: first control the Spirit Guarding Domain to lay a foundation in the Dead Spirit Realm! Next, proactively attack all races and annihilate their Dao Integrations! After that, gather our strength and take the initiative to storm the Upper Realm!" "What?" Old Turtle was stunned. "Are you certain?" "Of course!" Su Yu said gravely, "I am not joking! Why should I wait for the Upper Realm to come strike me? No, I will charge up there! Proactive attack is far superior to passive defense! I want to catch them off guard, storm into the Upper Realm, and cut down eight or ten Dao Integrations right off the bat! Catch them entirely unawares. Only then will all races fear me, will the Upper Realm fear me, will every tribe be terrified—some smaller races might even give up fighting me! Shatter their unspoken accord. The Gods, Demons, and Immortals are powerful and refuse to yield? So what? Once I destroy those three races, I can suppress the rest!" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "Otherwise, if those three races have thirty Dao Integrations, the other races have at least as many. If I wait for them to attack me, I'll have to face sixty Dao Integrations, plus those in the Lower Realm, perhaps seventy in total... But if I take the initiative to strike upward, that number will be cut in half! I'll wipe out several races first, just like now, cowing the myriad heavens. By then, who will dare fight me?" "..." Old Turtle inhaled sharply. "You truly are ruthless!" "It isn't ruthlessness!" Su Yu argued, "It's survival! Those bastards above the heavens and below the earth all want me dead. Well, I'm going to survive right before their eyes, and I'll kill until the mere mention of my name fills them with terror! If I cannot earn your respect, I will make you fear me!" Old Turtle said no more, falling into contemplation. After a long time, he murmured, "First strike the Dead Spirit Realm, liberate Tianmie and the others... help them enter Dao Integration, then conquer the myriad realms, and after conquering the myriad realms, attack the Upper Realm..." Su Yu nodded silently. Yes, this was indeed the optimal choice. Otherwise, striking the myriad realms first... was futile. Tianmie and the others couldn't unleash their power, and Su Yu didn't actually possess the capability to fight all races. Remain in a stalemate? Don't be ridiculous! If they stalled until the Upper Realm opened, the two sides would join hands, and the Dead Spirit Realm would stir again to pin down Old Turtle just like last time... Everything would be finished. Su Yu's side couldn't possibly contend with the Upper Realm! Old Turtle pondered continuously, murmuring in a low voice after a long while, "Difficult... far too difficult! However, if you want to unify the Spirit Guarding Domain—or rather, the region encircled by the Dead Spirit Heavenly River—there is still hope..." Su Yu looked at Old Turtle, who said gravely, "Make Hetu and Xia Chen leave! If those two leave, those fellows will no longer have the right to trespass into my territory. But... having those two leave is far too dangerous!" He didn't want Hetu out of his sight; it was too easy for something to go wrong! Su Yu tapped lightly on the table and smiled. "Senior, tell me... is there any chance we could lure those fellows from the Eastern King Manor, including the Eastern Heavenly King himself, into the Star Residence Mansion? I want to see if I can find a way to eliminate him, seize his Dead Spirit Heavenly King Seal, and take control of the Eastern King Manor!" Old Turtle sucked in a breath. "You really want to kill him?" "Naturally!" Su Yu smiled. "Is there no hope?" "The Star Residence Mansion... the Star Residence Mansion..." Old Turtle felt an enormous headache coming on. "You... your gall is truly immense! To tell you the truth, in the hundred thousand years I've suppressed this place, I have never once contemplated slaying the Eastern Heavenly King and replacing him! Because I am simply no match for him..." Su Yu smiled. "The ancient humans beat the Dead Spirit Realm into submission; why can't we do it now? Yes, we are weak, but inside the Star Residence Mansion, there is someone who isn't weak at all. As long as we can lure them inside... there's a chance of killing them!" At this point, Su Yu asked, "Senior, if I take Hetu and the others inside, do you think that could lure him in?" "Unlikely!" Old Turtle shook his head. "Practically hopeless. The Eastern Heavenly King wouldn't chase Hetu all the way into the Star Residence Mansion in person just to capture him! He isn't stupid. Moreover, he has contact with the outside world, quite possibly with the Immortals, Gods, and Demons!" Su Yu frowned. "How are they contacting each other? The thirty-six passages are with us, and the Tianyuan Realm is blockaded by King Dazhou. So where are they entering the Dead Spirit Realm from?" Old Turtle laughed. "How do you think you opened the Dead Spirit Realm?" "Excess death qi..." "There's your answer!" Old Turtle laughed. "Did you really think that in all these years, those fellows haven't gathered even a bit of death qi? Troublesome as death qi is, with their power, collecting some is no trouble at all. Find an out-of-the-way spot, open a dead spirit passage, and as long as they don't cause chaos or let the dead spirits slaughter their way out in a riot, the rules won't punish them." Su Yu understood! So that was how! Old Turtle added, "Of course, unless absolutely necessary, they don't dare open dead spirit passages recklessly. If they open one and fail to close it, things get interesting..." Old Turtle chuckled. "At that point, they would be punished by the rules... Naturally, we wouldn't fare much better either; we would be faulted for failing in our guard duties! In truth, if all races were willing to risk everything, they could trap and kill us by opening dead spirit passages everywhere and letting dead spirits wreak havoc on the world! But opening a passage practically requires a Dao Integration expert... Opening one passage would mean dragging one Dao Integration expert down to be buried with us... If they were truly willing to part with them, opening seven or eight passages would render us unable to suppress them. Once total chaos erupted, we would all be punished by the rules, and seven or eight Dao Integration experts would probably be buried alongside us..." Saying that, Old Turtle smiled. "So we aren't overly worried about them doing it. But if they truly do... at worst, we trade our lives for seven or eight of their Dao Integration experts!" Su Yu laughed. "That won't do! Wouldn't that be a terrible loss? How could seven or eight Dao Integration experts from all races compare to the importance of you seniors?" Old Turtle smiled; he loved hearing that! Su Yu pondered and said, "The dead spirits definitely know about the Star Residence Mansion, but Senior, do you think they know about the teleportation array?" Old Turtle's expression shifted slightly. "What do you mean?" "I was thinking: if I enter the Star Residence Mansion through that passage over there and the dead spirits find out, the Eastern Heavenly King certainly wouldn't seek death by running over there. But... what if I use the teleportation passage?" Su Yu smiled. "No one in the myriad realms knows—including Tiangu and the others. Although they know Hetu and the rest fought their way up from the first floor, they have no idea where they entered from. Later, they might even suspect that I ambushed them by infiltrating in advance... Senior, tell me: if I lead them through the teleportation passage and then we instantly teleport away together... do you think they can still escape?" Old Turtle's eyes gleamed with wild excitement! "However, that passage lies within the Spirit Guarding Domain. The Eastern Heavenly King's people—and even he himself—might not dare come cause trouble here..." Su Yu laughed. "Truly not dare? Didn't they come previously?" "That was different... Last time, after Marquis Qishan and the others were slain, the Eastern King Manor was furious, yet they didn't cross the border!" Saying that, his expression flickered. "Right, last time Marquis Lanshan of your human race also took the field, holding back two dead spirit marquises before returning." Su Yu knitted his brows. "The Eastern Heavenly King won't cause trouble for her?" "Unclear..." Old Turtle mused, "If you want to lure the Eastern Heavenly King out... the best way is to contact Marquis Lanshan. She is still in the Eastern King Manor. Last time, she only blocked those two dead spirit marquises from crossing the border, so the Eastern Heavenly King might not dare move against her directly—after all, there are other human dead spirit marquises in the other three King Manors! Among the four Heavenly Kings, there may even be one somewhat inclined toward the Human Realm... After all, he received ancient rules and enfeoffment from the Imperial Court! But if Marquis Lanshan rebels... the Eastern Heavenly King will have a pretext to act personally! If he doesn't intervene himself, ordinary experts cannot do anything to Marquis Lanshan!" The two rapidly deliberated. As Old Turtle spoke, his eyes flickered. "Perhaps... there really is hope! Of course, that is predicated on whether you, Su Yu, can guarantee you can eliminate them inside the Star Residence Mansion. Otherwise, it will cause catastrophic trouble! It could even get you trapped and doomed inside the Star Residence Mansion! What's more, it could lead to the Star Residence Mansion falling under the Eastern Heavenly King's control!" Old Turtle said solemnly, "One false step and the entire game is lost. You must think this through!" Su Yu nodded, turning the thought over in his mind: Marquis Lanshan... rebellion! Have her rebel against the Eastern Heavenly King, get pursued, charge into the passage while he ambushed there, and teleport together into the Star Residence Mansion... letting the Martial Emperor take care of the Eastern Heavenly King? Taking over the Eastern King Domain, turning the Dead Spirit Realm into his rear base... Or even swallowing the entire Dead Spirit Realm! It was a fine plan, but the crucial issue was that the margin for error was too slim. If anything went awry—if the Martial Emperor failed to kill the other party, or simply killed Su Yu instead... heavens, that would be rushing to his own death! Old Turtle soon added, "Furthermore, I cannot leave! If I go with you and the Eastern Heavenly King sees that I am no longer suppressing this place, he might charge out of the Dead Spirit Realm—and that would be real disaster! You can take three to five guards with you at most!" The guards were merely Eternals, not Dao Integration experts. Even Old Turtle couldn't best the Eastern Heavenly King, and Old Turtle could fight three Dao Integration experts at once. The Eastern Heavenly King could probably fight four... Beating Tianmie and the others would likely be like thrashing children. Old Turtle continued, "Moreover, it is best not to bring any living beings! You can reverse death qi, while Tianmie and the others were petrified and have guarded for years, deeply shrouded in death qi. Entering there, they won't be sensed very clearly by the dead spirits. But if living beings enter, the detection will be glaringly obvious—especially for someone at the Eastern Heavenly King's level, whose perception is astonishingly potent!" Su Yu stroked his chin. "We don't necessarily have to lure the Eastern Heavenly King in. Doesn't he still have nine dead spirit marquis subordinates? If we could lure those marquises away... pull them inside to kill them, and then surround and attack the Eastern Heavenly King... there would still be hope, right?" Old Turtle nodded. "That's the logic. However, you'd need to lure away at least five or more and eliminate them before there's any hope! Otherwise, it's still hopeless!" True enough! "Then how many dead spirit marquises do you think would pursue Marquis Lanshan if she rebels?" "Three at most!" Su Yu smiled. "What if I, Su Yu, go to rescue her? If I personally rescue Marquis Lanshan... would they dispatch more forces?" "Undoubtedly. Even the Eastern Heavenly King might personally strike. The question is: are you willing to expose yourself?" Su Yu narrowed his eyes. "It's not out of the question! Naturally, that's a last resort. Otherwise, through Marquis Lanshan alone, first, she might not lure enough powerhouses; second... those fellows might not pursue relentlessly, or even if they chase her to the teleportation passage, they might not follow our script... Only if it's me, opening the passage then—with the impulsive, furious temperament of dead spirits, they might well pursue to the bitter end..." Saying that, Su Yu added, "In addition, I want to take Tianmie, Yunxiao, and Xinghong in with me to see if there's an opportunity for them to step into Dao Integration!" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "Slaying dead spirits should count as merit, right? Weakening the Dead Spirit Realm's strength—would that not be meritorious for the guards? If dead spirits trespass into the Star Residence Mansion, which was the core of antiquity, wouldn't there be rewards?" "Well..." Old Turtle said uncertainly, "It's truly hard to say!" Su Yu smiled. "Perhaps there are! If so, once heaven and earth bestow rewards, to say nothing of the others, I believe Tianmie has a strong chance of stepping into Dao Integration!" "That much is true!" Old Turtle nodded. "His chances are tremendous. If not for the seal—even Duobao reached Dao Integration—he should have integrated long ago. Tianmie is stronger than Duobao!" "The key lies with Old Zhou!" Su Yu said in a low voice. "Old Zhou?" "The Martial Emperor!" Su Yu explained, his voice solemn. "The Martial Emperor is completely mad right now. I've been pondering one question: how can I get him to communicate with me properly? Senior, one thing puzzles me: do you think King Wu, the Human Sovereign, and the others truly didn't know whether the Martial Emperor was dead or alive?" "Impossible!" Old Turtle stated with absolute certainty. Others might not have known, but it was impossible for the Human Sovereign and the others not to know. Su Yu pressed, "In that case, knowing the Martial Emperor wasn't dead, why didn't they kill him? Why forge him into the Star Residence Mansion instead?" "Well..." Old Turtle shook his head. Too complicated; I don't know. "Therefore, having spared the Martial Emperor, there might be some means of restraint, or some other method, to communicate properly with him!" "The ninth floor!" Su Yu said deeply, "Could there be something in the ninth floor, or in King Wu's Manor or King Wen's Manor on the eighth floor, that allows me to restrain the Martial Emperor...?" Old Turtle truly didn't know! In ancient times, his status hadn't been that high. Even if his strength rivaled an enfeoffed marquis, even marquises might not have known the truth; even Human Kings might not have known. Su Yu continued to ponder. After thinking for a while, he said, "Senior, when the teleportation in the Dead Spirit Realm is activated, the Sea of Stars might activate simultaneously! At that time, if you don't descend into the Dead Spirit Realm, please don't let anyone teleport in from outside, lest it cause trouble for me!" "That's no problem!" Old Turtle nodded. "Certainly. Besides, all races dare not rashly venture in right now anyway." Su Yu chuckled, "Also, if something truly goes wrong with me... I'll have to trouble you, Senior, to find a way to enter the Human Realm, go to Starfall Mountain, and seek out Fat Ball at King Wen's former residence. Perhaps it can save me... If it can't... I'll find a way to transform into a dead spirit!" Old Turtle looked at him solemnly. "Having reached this point, you could actually afford to wait. Must you gamble with your life right now?" Su Yu smiled. "Senior, you're too optimistic! With the Upper Realm on the verge of opening, how much of a winning chance do you think I'll have once it opens?" Old Turtle was silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "Less than ten percent." "Would that not be gambling with my life then?" "Hard to say." Su Yu laughed. "Exactly. Gambling my life now or gambling it then amounts to the same thing! My trip this time is to inquire about cultivation techniques from the Martial Emperor. If the Martial Emperor cannot communicate with me, if it fails this time, it will fail next time too! That would only waste my time. If I bring people inside and the Martial Emperor can be reasoned with, he can even help me kill some enemies. If I don't bring people in and he can't be communicated with, my life is still in danger! "Under the exact same risk, do you think I lose anything by luring the Eastern Heavenly King and his people inside?" Old Turtle was left speechless by his words. It seemed... he wouldn't. Indeed, no matter what, Su Yu had to communicate with the Martial Emperor on this trip! If communication failed, everything else was pointless talk. And Su Yu chuckled, "By bringing them in, I can at least drag several down to be buried with me! If the Martial Emperor truly goes mad and slaughters indiscriminately, if I die, those dead spirits die too! So I only stand to gain; I will never lose! "If it truly comes to that, Senior can find a way to unify the Eastern King Domain, which might relieve some pressure on the other guards. Consider it my, Su Yu's, repayment to all of you... If I die, perhaps everyone can hold out a bit longer!" Old Turtle took a deep breath. "Su Yu, you put me in quite a dilemma! I want to advise you against taking such risks, yet I find I have no justification to dissuade you. If you don't take risks now, in about ten years, you may face even greater peril!" Su Yu nodded and smiled. "I'm used to it! Still, I can't go entirely unprepared... Never mind, I'll thicken my face, make another trip back to the Human Realm, and beg for another drop of blood essence! I still have plenty of Dao Integration blood essence—the Dragon Emperor's and the Golden-Winged Roc's are with me. That way, at the very least, I can unleash Dao Integration combat power!" Su Yu took a deep breath. "I'll go beg for another drop of Fat Ball's blood essence, and then... find a way to butcher those dead spirits. I want to overturn the current situation and tilt the entire balance of the myriad realms completely in my favor!" Old Turtle said solemnly, "Then you... be careful!" Su Yu stood up, downed the tea in a single gulp, and laughed. "In this situation, how can one succeed without taking risks? Rest assured, Senior! If we win this battle, what follows will be the Second War of the Myriad Realms! Senior, please make preparations early!" "I will do my utmost!" Old Turtle said solemnly, "Once the Spirit Guarding Domain is unified, I can free up more energy and combat strength to fight the war across the heavens!" Su Yu laughed heartily. "Then I leave it in your capable hands! If I succeed, I will also find a way to resurrect Hetu!" "Thank you!" Old Turtle thanked him. This was the very first time he had expressed gratitude; previously, it was always Su Yu asking favors of him. At this moment, he showed a rare trace of emotion. "As long as you can liberate Tianmie and the others and resurrect Hetu, Su Yu, from now on, whatever you ask of me, I will answer without hesitation, sparing... nothing!" Old Turtle said with utmost solemnity, "Even if it means dying in battle!" In this life, he had wronged two groups of people. The first was Tianmie and the others. He had led them to suppress this place, agreeing on a thousand years, only to wait for a full hundred thousand years! The second was Hetu. Hetu was King Gong's descendant, and King Gong had treated Old Turtle with unmatched generosity—the two were bosom friends. When Hetu was in peril, it was Old Turtle who had him convert into a castellan, and in the early stages, Old Turtle had indulged Hetu's collusions with dead spirits, until in the end, Old Turtle had personally slain him! These two great regrets had caused Old Turtle immense internal torment over all these years. Today, if Su Yu could succeed, perhaps both of these regrets could be resolved. When that time came... he would be willing to fight to the death for Su Yu to the very end! Su Yu smiled, his expression brilliantly radiant. "Senior speaks too heavily! However, I will certainly find a way. If we win this battle, our odds of victory in the Second War of the Myriad Realms will soar, and charging into the Upper Realm will be just around the corner!" With those words, Su Yu vanished into the sky! He needed to go beg for another drop of the little white dog's blood essence for self-defense. Although he knew the little white dog's blood essence consumption was getting rather heavy, still... only if he stayed alive would there be hope! He knew the little white dog would almost certainly not refuse him. "This will be the last time... Once I resolve all the races, I will certainly make it up to you!" Su Yu thought to himself. Soon, he returned to the Human Realm, back to Starfall Mountain. The Waterfall of Time manifested, and Su Yu stepped in. A moment later, Su Yu departed. Under King Dazhou's bewildered gaze, Su Yu came in haste and left in haste, vanishing once more from the Human Realm in the blink of an eye. He was heading for the Dead Spirit Realm! This time, he had many goals! Acquire cultivation techniques, transform combat techniques into divine characters, integrate Daos, slay the Eastern Heavenly King, unify the Spirit Guarding Domain... For a moment, even Su Yu felt a surge of excitement. If he succeeded this time, hope for the war across the heavens would truly arrive! "Old Zhou, wait for me!" Su Yu murmured in his heart. Martial Emperor, show me some respect—whatever you do, don't let me down! I'm counting entirely on you!