Transformation

In the dead spirit realm. A group of living beings strode forward, their auras laid bare without the slightest attempt at concealment. It was utterly brazen! Yet what did being brazen matter? As their living vitality radiated outwards, dead spirits were swiftly drawn in to slaughter them—and in doing so, simply allowed Hetu and the others to capture even more of them without having to search. Dead spirits were foolish creatures! The moment they sensed living vitality, they could not resist coming to kill. Moreover, the rules of the dead spirit realm forbade living beings from entering; any who did were marked for death by the spirits. This territory lay well within the borders of the Four Kings' domains. Normally, only local dead spirits from within the realm would wander here. Unless the armies of the Four Kings crossed borders, one rarely encountered anything beyond low- to mid-stage dead spirit monarchs, with high-stage monarchs being exceedingly rare. Before long, more than twenty dead spirit monarchs were pinned down behind Hetu and Marquis Lanshan, thoroughly suppressed by their great seal! Hetu even recognized a few of them. At that moment, he was busily brainwashing them. "You lot are blind to what's happening. Where did the ancient marquises go? To the Four Kings' domains! And this time, we took down the Eastern King's domain. We're actively recruiting soldiers and generals! The death qi over there is far heavier, cultivating is infinitely more satisfying, the territory is vast, and gaining wisdom is ten times easier! "Follow us to the Eastern King's domain, and you'll claim far larger territories of your own—all without being suppressed. Do you understand? "This place is the Old Turtle's domain; he keeps us down! Go to the Eastern King's domain, and we will be the masters! "The Eastern King's domain has hundreds of millions of dead spirits. Every single one of you can become an army commander leading legions of millions!" As Hetu spoke, he pointed toward Tuofa. "Recognize Tuofa? He has already been appointed Sky Battle General, one of the Thirty-Six Generals of the Eastern King Residence—a status rivaling that of an ancient titled general! When you lot were alive, you were minor untitled generals at best. Now you're getting an upgrade! "The moment you step into the Dao Integration realm, every one of you can be enfeoffed as a marquis!" Hetu grew increasingly excited. "Enfeoffed as marquises! Ancient marquises were beyond our wildest dreams, but the Human Master has ushered in a brand-new era! The realms of life and death are on the verge of unification. If you don't pledge allegiance now, are you going to wait until the dust settles? Will there even be a chance left then? "Obey now, and once the Human Master unites both realms and establishes the rules of life and death, then... tsk, tsk, incredible things await. You'll all be grand figures! "Once the Human Master rewrites the rules, dead spirits will be able to cross into the living realm. When that time comes, you'll be able to return and see your descendants and your families! "I know your dead spirit nature suppresses your true minds. Hearing this now might mean nothing to you, but once you arrive at the Eastern King Residence, raise your strength, anchor your minds, and recall the past, you will thank your lucky stars for the choice you make today!" The twenty-odd dead spirit monarchs stood utterly dazed. Tuofa, who had been singled out, also wore a dark, weary expression. *I got captured!* *The Star Residence Mansion is no longer my territory; now I'm being dragged to the Eastern King Residence to fight wars!* Having offered the sweet carrot, Hetu brought down the heavy stick! He pointed toward Marquis Lanshan and warned, "Every one of you had better behave. You all saw Marquis Lanshan's Eastern King Seal just now. It's designed specifically to suppress dead spirits! In Marquis Lanshan's grasp, even Dao Integration experts would be pinned down!" The seals of the dead spirit realm were undeniably formidable. Earlier, the Eastern King had nearly suppressed Marquis Lanshan with his seal, and had Su Yu's Human Master Seal not struck back, she likely would have fallen. Now that the Eastern King Seal was in Marquis Lanshan's hands, its power was naturally diminished. Even so, suppressing a handful of Eternals remained well within its power. The rules themselves endowed the Eastern King Seal with authority! Because of that, nearly every one of these dead spirit monarchs had been directly subjugated beneath it! Su Yu paid no heed to the banter, letting Hetu speak as he flew toward a certain direction. Beside him, Tianmie chuckled mischievously. "Shanqi's territory!" He then grinned. "Are we going up through here?" "No," Su Yu said with a light smile. "Extract the dead spirit monarchs within the passageway. Do this for all thirty-six ancient cities. Disperse the dead spirit armies below, and bring every captured monarch with us! Round up the dead spirit armies as well to relieve the pressure on all the ancient cities!" With that, Su Yu ordered, "Tianmie, pair up with Xinghong! Tianyue, pair up with Yunxiao! Capture the monarchs beneath each city. As I travel along our route, I expect to see you joining up with monarchs and armies in tow! Do not kill them! If you slay one, another will simply take its place—there's no point!" "Understood!" Excited, the stone statues—long bored of lingering at Su Yu's side—scattered in different directions. Tianyue was less enthusiastic about showing off, but since Su Yu had commanded it, he raised no objections and quickly departed alongside Yunxiao. Capturing the monarchs and seizing control of the dead spirit armies would relieve the pressure of the surging death qi on each ancient city. They would transform the entire Spirit Suppression Domain into a land cleared of dead spirits. Of course, complete eradication was impossible. The Dead Spirit Heavenly River constantly spawned new dead spirits, and stray spirits would inevitably wander in. However, such stragglers would no longer pose any significant threat to the thirty-six cities. When the time came, posting an Eternal atop each passage would suffice. Meanwhile, Su Yu intended to visit the Eastern King Residence to establish an anchoring passageway that connected directly into the living realm. That way, if another major war erupted... heh. If enemies were cast down here, into the midst of hundreds of millions of dead spirits, even Dao Integration experts would exhaust themselves half to death just swatting down tens of thousands of them at a blow! The pure backlash of death qi alone would drown them! Su Yu continued leading his entourage onward, simultaneously contemplating various battle techniques as they traveled. The Heaven-Cleaving Blade had already been transformed into a divine character, or rather, had been rendered as one long ago. Earlier, the Mind Expansion Hammer had likewise been converted by Su Yu. The "Hammer" divine character was Su Yu's thirty-third. He still lacked sixty-six divine characters. That meant mastering sixty-six battle techniques to absolute proficiency—or even consummate mastery—before they could crystallize into characters. At least sixty-six techniques! Moreover, they had to be powerful battle arts belonging to major, formidable races. Techniques from petty minor races were far too weak! Even if forged into divine characters, they would remain trash. Furthermore, they had to be converted into human divine characters. Su Yu always adapted foreign arts into human cultivation techniques before training them, which prevented them from solidifying into foreign divine characters. Otherwise, conflict would arise within him, as foreign divine characters represented the Daos of foreign races. Su Yu primarily sought to comprehend Daos compatible with the human race. *The innate techniques of the major races—Gods, Demons, Immortals, Dragons, Underworlders—can all be forged into divine characters!* *The Iron-Eating Seventy-Two Castings is also an innate battle technique!* Su Yu was exceedingly proficient with this art. In the past, his Heavenly Gate had not been opened, leaving him unable to complete the transformation. Now, Su Yu meditated quietly, activating his "Fire" divine character to contemplate the Great Dao. He even opened his Heavenly Gate to perceive it directly, making the insights far more intuitive. In the dead spirit realm, the effect was somewhat muted. If he were in the living realm, Su Yu could directly view the corresponding Great Dao itself! Comprehension would be far swifter then. And if circumstances permitted, taking a stroll along the River of Time to meditate would yield terrifyingly potent results! Su Yu pressed onward while Marquis Lanshan and Hetu disciplined the subjugated dead spirits. From time to time, Marquis Lanshan cast an adoring glance toward Su Yu. This generation's Human Master was simply extraordinary! Soon, Tianmie arrived in high spirits, clutching a captured monarch. He tossed the monarch down and vanished instantly without so much as a greeting! He had reached the Dao Integration realm! Just moments ago, he had descended beneath Shanqi Ancient City, knocked the resident dead spirit monarch senseless with a single punch, and poked his head up the passageway to nudge Shanqi. The sudden intrusion had frightened Shanqi out of his wits, making him think dead spirits had breached the seals. Only when Tianmie poked his head out did Shanqi realize who it was. Tianmie had promptly flaunted his Dao Integration aura before Shanqi's stunned gaze, then turned on his heel with the unconscious monarch in hand. Right now, he was in a rush to boast at the next city! Terrified that Yunxiao and the others would beat him to it, he had no time to exchange pleasantries with Su Yu and the rest. He was far too busy! Xinghong was flaunting his breakthrough as well, which drove Tianmie mad with impatience. Across the thirty-six cities, aside from their own group, there were only thirty-three guardians left to brag to. Since boasting to their boss was awkward, that left practically thirty-two targets. Tianmie needed to show off to at least eleven of them to feel satisfied; otherwise, he might end up with the smallest share of bragging rights. While Tianmie and the others busied themselves, a new divine character slowly took shape within Su Yu's Heavenly Gate aperture! A character forged from the Iron-Eating Seventy-Two Castings! "Defend"! Unrivaled defensive prowess, an unimaginably sturdy physical body—the fundamental essence of the Seventy-Two Castings was to forge the ultimate body of defense! Offensive power was merely secondary. The core was defense! The Iron-Eating race possessed peerless defense! The vast majority of their clan walked this exact Dao. The moment the character "Defend" formed, it was immensely powerful. Because Su Yu had perfected the technique himself, the art was inherently formidable; upon inception, it instantly leaped into the Sun Moon Realm, even advancing a fair distance within it. These technique-derived divine characters depended entirely on individual comprehension. Su Yu's grasp of the Seventy-Two Castings was not merely proficient—it was at a master's level! This was his third divine character forged from a battle technique! A moment later, yet another divine character was successfully delineated. "Strike"! This one arose from the Mountain-Breaking Strike of the Mountain-Breaking Ox race. Su Yu felt a twinge of regret; the battle arts of that clan were mediocre, yet because he had used the strike frequently in his earlier days and understood it well, it had spontaneously solidified into a character! *I will undoubtedly form a great number of divine characters in the end. Perhaps I'll have to shatter some of my earlier ones, or meticulously sift through them until I select ninety-nine elite characters!* Su Yu contemplated his options. Or perhaps he could simply extract the most powerful divine characters! Weak characters could be merged into his battle techniques to feed the Brush Dao! Formidable characters could tread independent Daos of their own. For instance, "Calamity" was a character Su Yu dearly wished to forge into its own distinct path. If he succeeded, he was certain that whenever danger loomed and the Great Dao trembled, he would instantly pinpoint where the crisis originated! It would grant him genuine divinatory foresight, allowing him to perceive danger in advance! *As for the characters belonging to King Dazhou and the others, I can merge them all into my divine character battle techniques. Eventually, their power can be drawn out and channeled into the Brush Dao! King Dazhou is also cultivating characters like 'Stillness' and may have already reached Dao Integration with it. If I cultivate it further, I'll only end up competing with him for the Dao!* Su Yu reached a clear judgment and plan. Characters that conflicted with others could be melted into his battle techniques. Innate, unique characters could be retained to open separate Daos. In any case, Su Yu was unwilling to stop at opening only a single Dao. If he did, no matter how powerful he became, he would remain far behind the peerless experts of antiquity. *Thirty-five divine characters!* His characters were multiplying. Behind him, the captured monarchs grew in number as well, trailed by vast swarms of dead spirits—endless ranks stretching into the distance! Su Yu veiled his living vitality so as not to draw their feral gaze; dealing with pointless distractions was a waste of time. *** In the living realm. Hongmeng Ancient City. The Old Turtle sighed with deep emotion. He could sense that the Spirit Suppression Domain was undergoing earth-shattering changes! Vast multitudes of dead spirits were gathering! "I guarded this place for a hundred thousand years, yet I never accomplished this!" At that moment, the Old Turtle felt both melancholy and helpless. *Am I truly that inadequate?* In a hundred thousand years, he had never unified the Spirit Suppression Domain, largely because the Eastern King Residence constantly caused disruptions to thwart him. Yet now, the Eastern King was dead! Su Yu had solved the greatest trouble. Disturbances in the Spirit Suppression Domain were now few and far between. As for the other three royal residences, they were situated far from the dead spirit passageways, as the conduits of the thirty-six cities all opened in the eastern sector. *This realm is destined to be unified!* The Old Turtle pondered silently. This would be the final reckoning. Either the human race would achieve total unification, or another race would. In any case, he doubted this clash could end peacefully as past conflicts had! As the Old Turtle mused, his brow furrowed slightly. A moment later, a pale white silhouette manifested. The Old Turtle remarked indifferently, "Marquis Jiantian still dares to wander about?" Still garbed in the robes of a scholar, Marquis Jiantian looked upon the Old Turtle with complicated emotion. "The last time I came to see you, Brother Hongmeng, I asked whether this world would be united once more, and whether a Human Sovereign would rise again... I asked if Su Yu was the one entering the premises. Brother Hongmeng... sigh!" He had harbored premonitions of his own. Alas, it was now too late for everything. The Old Turtle replied calmly, "I told you back then: even if you refined the Heaven Hunting Ranking, the ranking never belonged to Su Yu. He is not King Wen, and he would never hold such things against you. Had you been willing to aid him that day... things would not have come to this pass!" Marquis Jiantian smiled faintly. "Let us not speak of that! I did not come today to express regret over my past actions. From the moment the Seventh Tide began, I had no retreat left! King Wen left the Heaven Hunting Ranking behind... yet I used it for my own selfish ends. I lost any way back long ago!" "What instructions does the Marquis have?" The Old Turtle's tone remained aloof; they were no longer travelers on the same path. Even though, in this present world, he and Marquis Jiantian were among the most ancient beings alive. "I would not presume!" Marquis Jiantian smiled wryly. "I merely wish to ask: did Su Yu visit King Wen's former residence?" "I do not know." "Are you unwilling to share even this?" Marquis Jiantian's smile turned bitter, and he quickly pressed on, "I seemed to glimpse the silhouette of the dog King Wen once kept. Brother Hongmeng, tell me: is King Wen truly dead or alive? If he is not dead, why has he never returned? Had he returned sooner, matters would never have degraded to this state! And... Su Yu... is he... King Wen?" A tremor of dread colored his voice. "Why have King Wen's possessions all fallen into his hands! The Tombstone of Civilizations, that dog, and now even all of you stand at his side, while even the Iron-Eating Beast Emperor throws his lot with him..." He desperately sought an answer! Was Su Yu King Wen? Seeing his terrified countenance, the Old Turtle's brow knit slightly. He knew that if he claimed Su Yu was indeed King Wen, Marquis Jiantian would be frightened out of his wits! Yet the Old Turtle chose not to. He said evenly, "Su Yu is Su Yu! King Wen is King Wen! Samsara and reincarnation do not exist! The dead spirit realm is right here; if coming back from the dead—or the mythical reincarnation into another life—were truly possible, King Wen would hardly be the only one returning! "Marquis, you have lost yourself in delusions!" Marquis Jiantian fell silent. After a long while, he sighed deeply. "Perhaps! I spent several years at King Wen's side in the past, and I once heard him mention that there were peerless beings in this world seeking to forge a cycle of life and death! Not like the current dead spirit realm; the dead spirit realm today is flawed and incomplete! King Wen meant that once it was perfected, the living would have a sovereign of the living, and the dead would have a sovereign of the dead! The sovereign of the dead could allow the deceased to enter reincarnation, living another life across endless cycles..." He smiled bitterly. "It was precisely because I heard those words that I grew terrified. Could Su Yu be King Wen's reincarnation? Could King Wen have opened the Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation?" The Old Turtle said coolly, "You are troubling yourself with imaginary ghosts! A clear conscience fears no knock at midnight. Marquis, if you were to change your stance now..." Marquis Jiantian looked desolate. After a long pause, he laughed softly. "Forget it! You don't understand! I... only wished to walk a little further. I am a spirit of this heaven and earth, and I too wished to reach greater heights. I wished to become a presence revered and feared by all across the world... I did not want to be ordered about by others any longer..." The Old Turtle offered no reply. Perhaps so. Every being made their own choices. Yet in his eyes, Marquis Jiantian had no hope left. Looking desolate, Marquis Jiantian turned and vanished on the spot. He had come solely to seek peace of mind, and the Old Turtle had granted it by assuring him that Su Yu was not King Wen. In this world, the Old Turtle had lived the longest; if he said it was not so, then it was not so. That was the only answer he had sought! Once Marquis Jiantian departed, the passageway below trembled, and Tianmie's dissatisfied voice drifted up: "Boss, why didn't you just tell him Su Yu was King Wen and scare that bastard to death? "Also, I've broken through to Dao Integration! Boss, show me some respect from now on. Step on my head again, and I'll turn on you!" The Old Turtle was speechless. *What of Dao Integration?* *Is Dao Integration so remarkable?* *I can still beat you senseless!* Ignoring Tianmie, the Old Turtle pondered for a moment before chuckling. "King Wen is King Wen, and Su Yu is Su Yu. Each possesses a distinct personality and character. Stop bringing up such nonsense; keep blabbering, and be careful Su Yu doesn't beat you for it! Even if Su Yu were standing here himself, he wouldn't claim to be King Wen! Intimidating people by borrowing King Wen's name was something he did when he was weak. Now... he likely scorns doing so!" No one wished to live as someone else's shadow. Even if that person had been peerless under heaven! "True enough!" Tianmie nodded. The Old Turtle added, "Don't run around recklessly! Now that you've advanced to Dao Integration, keep a low profile. I expect Su Yu won't launch his offensive too quickly; take care not to let outsiders gauge our true strength!" The Old Turtle sighed with emotion. "His gamble paid off!" Tianmie bared his teeth. "I thought we were done for, but we actually won! Boss, you have no idea—at the very last moment, I was ready to self-detonate! Everyone was prepared to die together, and then... hehe, we won!" "The Martial Emperor?" "No!" Tianmie said excitedly, "It was Su Yu himself! He still had a drop of that little dog's blood! Tsk, tsk, that kid is ruthless. He watched us get beaten nearly to death, right up to the point of self-detonating, without giving us the slightest warning beforehand!" The Old Turtle quickly grasped the truth and smiled. "Understandable. He was worried there were too many fools among you who might give the game away. What could be more convincing than someone who doesn't realize they're acting, yet plays the part to perfection? "The Eastern King was profoundly powerful. He could sense whether your despair was genuine. Had you failed to radiate true despair, how could he have taken the bait so easily?" Tianmie nodded, then asked, "Boss, are we backing him all the way now?" The Old Turtle pondered for a long while before murmuring, "What do you think?" "Me?" Tianmie replied offhandedly, "I follow Boss's lead!" "No, you have your own thoughts." The Old Turtle said softly, "A hundred thousand years ago, you followed my lead, and it led to all of you being imprisoned like convicts for a hundred thousand years. Now, another choice lies before us..." "At least we're still alive!" Tianmie laughed. "Still, if you truly want my opinion... my thought is: let's do it! Boss, if we keep dragging this out, when will it ever end? Looking across the myriad realms, Su Yu is the only one with any hope of achieving total unification and establishing new rules! During the Ninth Tide, the Hundred Battles King came looking for me, and he must have sought you out as well. One look at him told me he wasn't cut out for greatness!" Tianmie curled his lip. "In any case, I know I'm not cut out for greatness myself! That Hundred Battles King was just like me—he'd be talking smoothly one moment, but the second someone from the myriad races provoked him, he'd draw his blade and charge out to hack them down! He had zero patience..." The Old Turtle laughed despite himself. "Su Yu is the same!" "Not at all!" Tianmie argued, "It really is different! Back then, I wondered what Su Yu would have done if he had possessed the Hundred Battles King's strength. The Hundred Battles King had the power to suppress the dead spirit passageway too. If it were Su Yu, how do you think he would have handled it?" The Old Turtle paused slightly. Tianmie grinned fiercely. "If it were Su Yu, I guarantee he would have said, 'Tianmie, go slaughter that bastard! Take a stroll outside; I'll watch the passageway for you!' That kid is a master at pushing people down a slippery slope! Once I struck out even once, there wouldn't even be a need for further discussion—I'd already be on his side! With my temper, I probably would have charged out and beaten the enemy to death! But the Hundred Battles King never did that; he just strutted around showing off his combat prowess to me. One look was all it took... forget it, the man was utterly unreliable!" The Old Turtle could not help but chuckle. "You see things quite clearly!" "Of course! My vision has always been sharp!" Tianmie grinned. "You see it now—we're on the verge of being unsealed! The Spirit Suppression Domain will soon be our territory! That Hundred Battles King was doomed from the start, just as I thought! So... Boss, if you ask me, I say we go all in!" The Old Turtle remained silent for a moment before murmuring, "In truth, we have no retreat left anyway! It is merely a matter of how firm our resolve is!" Tianmie nodded. "My only worry is that if several brothers die in battle, your heart will soften, Boss, and you'll pull us out!" He looked toward the Old Turtle. "Boss, we all know you cherish us! You've always felt indebted to us because we lived as prisoners for a hundred thousand years. For our sake, you even executed King Gong's descendant! I'm just afraid that once the grand war erupts and some brothers fall, you won't be able to bear it and will change your stance, choosing to withdraw!" He knew the Old Turtle too well! So well that he feared the moment a few guardians died, the Old Turtle would be overcome with grief and pull the rest out of the fight... and when that happened, catastrophe would follow! The Boss was a wonderful boss, but he was not necessarily an ideal ally. Tianmie understood this better than anyone. Yet could a grand war ever be fought without casualties? Even he had prepared himself—prepared to meet his end! The Old Turtle's eyes grew complicated. "Tianmie, you..." Tianmie waved a hand dismissively, looking entirely carefree. "Don't go stammering on. I know you think I'm reckless, Boss, but being reckless doesn't make me an idiot! If I were an idiot, I wouldn't have survived until today! This time is different! "I came back ahead of time specifically to have a word with you!" Tianmie muttered, "Setting aside whether we even have a way out, Boss... with Su Yu's temperament, if you don't want to do this, tell him right now! Tell him to figure out his own path! Out of respect for past ties, he probably won't say much. But if we pull out midway through the war... think about it, Boss: will he strike at the myriad races first, or will he turn on us first? "In my view, he will a hundred percent come to kill you first, Boss! "That kid is a lunatic!" Tianmie said gravely. "From the very first time I laid eyes on him, I knew he was mad! Brazen to the heavens! Vengeful to the bone! He dared to scheme against me the very first time we met! If we lose fair and square, that's fine. But if his people die because we abandon the field, do you think he'll let the matter rest?" Tianmie's expression was utterly serious. "If you can't steel your resolve, Boss, speak to Su Yu right now! Tell him we won't get involved! Don't wait until he frees us and finds others to take our posts, only for us to turn around and say we're backing out... he'll flip the table on the spot! "If we withdraw now, neither side owes the other anything. We've helped him numerous times, and he helped three of us step into Dao Integration, eliminated the Eastern King, and relieved our burden. We're square!" The Old Turtle smiled bitterly. "You... I lectured you for tens of thousands of years and you never listened, yet after running around with Su Yu for a few days, you listen to everything he says!" "That's not true!" Tianmie chuckled. "I still listen to you, Boss! Whatever you say, that's how we'll do it! "Even if you want to become the Emperor of the myriad realms, Boss, us brothers will back you to the hilt!" The Old Turtle sighed helplessly. "Don't stir up trouble! I have neither the ambition nor the strength for that! Still, you make a fair point. If we were to withdraw halfway through, I too fear that lunatic would ignore the myriad races entirely just to wipe us out first! But..." He let out a long breath. "If all of you truly die in battle, I..." "Then that's fate!" Tianmie muttered. "Dying in battle is glorious and grand, far better than rotting away like this. Boss, you have no idea what it feels like to live as the walking dead!" As they spoke, a voice rose from below: "Boss, Tianmie actually has a point!" Xinghong's voice echoed up: "You don't need to hold back on our account! We would rather die fighting in this tide than wait for another! A hundred thousand years—we have truly had enough!" The Old Turtle's gaze turned profoundly complicated. After a long while, he sighed. "I understand, and I know what you mean! As long as you have no regrets yourselves, I will not withdraw!" "Boss is wise!" Tianmie flattered him shamelessly, then tossed something out with a loud laugh. "Boss, war might break out at any moment! Fuse this into my great staff for me. I've still got business to handle, so I'll be off—it's busy down there!" With that, he vanished! Before the Old Turtle could react, Xinghong tossed several items out as well: "Boss, help me fuse these too. I'm off!" In the blink of an eye, both had vanished. Only then did the Old Turtle glance at the items thrown before him. They looked strangely familiar, exceedingly odd. After staring for several moments, he ground his teeth. "You beasts!" That was his shell! Those were the furnishings from his private residence, the front gate of his mansion, his bath tub, his dining table... Those scoundrels had looted his home! *Damn it!* The Old Turtle cursed roundly! Looting his home was vile enough, but these bastards actually had the gall to ask him to use the treasures stolen from his own house to forge their weapons! That was utterly inhumane! Absolute beasts! "Did Su Yu clean out the eighth floor?" After cursing for a while, the Old Turtle suddenly realized what had occurred and drew in a sharp breath. The eighth floor housed countless treasures! He had considered himself relatively poor, being merely a titled general, yet even his residence had held an abundance of treasures. The eighth floor also housed residences of numerous marquises, kings, and Half-Emperors. If Su Yu had pillaged the entire eighth floor... heavens, that kid had struck an unimaginable fortune! Thinking of this, and recalling Tianmie's earlier words, the Old Turtle smiled wryly. As expected, he simply was not cut out for supreme leadership. Even a brute like Tianmie had seen through his lingering hesitations. Fearing that he might withdraw midway through the fight, Tianmie had rushed back ahead of Su Yu's return specifically to lay things bare. In truth, the attitude of Tianmie and the others was abundantly clear. They wanted to fight! "Sigh, I only hope... all of you survive safely!" Over the past hundred thousand years, his greatest regret had been dragging these old brothers down with him, leaving them trapped in a state neither human nor ghost! At this moment, the Old Turtle cast all lingering doubts aside. Let victory and defeat be decided in this tide. He had accused Marquis Jiantian of overthinking, yet had he not done the exact same thing? No wonder both he and Marquis Jiantian had lived for an eternity and amassed immense power, yet had never managed to touch the realm of a Ruler of Rules. *** "Rend"! In the dead spirit realm, Su Yu delineated another divine character. He shook his head. *Trash!* This one was formed from the innate technique of the Iron-Winged Bird race—the Rending innate technique. It was an utterly abysmal divine character; upon successful delineation, it reached merely the second tier, which showed the inherent weakness of the character itself. The Great Dao of the Iron-Winged Bird race was likely nothing more than a rubbish path! There was probably zero hope of ever producing a Ruler of Rules from it! A truly pitiful race! This was the forty-fifth divine character Su Yu had delineated. He was still far from ninety-nine! Moreover, if the delineated characters were too weak, he would have to strengthen them later on. It seemed he would indeed have to make a trip to the Five Elements Realm to harvest more rule force, bolstering his divine characters to step into the Great Dao! *The Five Elements Realm, the Great Dao of the Five Elements...* Su Yu stroked his chin. Was the Five Elements Dao a single Dao, or five separate Daos? The fact that people were unable to achieve Dao Integration there was likely because the Dao had been torn apart—and whoever had done so was exceptionally powerful! He would know once he went to look! The Five Elements Ancestor had fallen. As for five distinct Great Daos... Su Yu doubted the ancestor had controlled five paths simultaneously, so it was likely just one. Whatever the case, he would inspect it first. If five Great Daos truly existed, perhaps he could find a way to claim them for himself. After all, he possessed five-element divine characters of his own. As he pondered, Tianmie and the others returned once more, dragging even more dead spirit monarchs in their wake! Just then, another dead spirit monarch appeared in the distance—not dragged back as a captive, but walking forward on her own. Xingyue! At that moment, Xingyue looked at Su Yu, then at Marquis Lanshan behind him, and finally at the gathered dead spirit monarchs—there were nearly fifty of them now! After watching for a while, Xingyue abruptly spun on her heel to leave. Su Yu was somewhat surprised. Why was she walking away? "Lord Xingyue..." In the distance, Xingyue did not turn back as she said, "You are already the overlord of this region. There is no need to call me 'Lord' anymore. In the future... you will have no need for this seat either. This seat failed to advance to the seventh stage." Tinged with palpable desolation, Xingyue's figure swiftly faded into the distance. She had devoured the dead spirit mark of a marquis, yet she had still failed to break through! She was profoundly disappointed! And now, she also knew that Su Yu had slain the Eastern King, conquered the entire Eastern King domain, and become the undisputed hegemon of this dead spirit realm. He was now sweeping up countless dead spirit monarchs! It was a crushing sense of loss! The Su Yu who had once begged her for assistance no longer needed her. At this moment, she could also sense that the death qi channel connecting her to Su Yu had weakened to a negligible thread. Su Yu had no further need to extract her death qi, for he had already integrated his Heavenly Gate! Meanwhile, the death qi she channeled to him had become utterly insignificant! It was so faint that Su Yu could easily overlook it, or crush it beneath his immense power, leaving her completely incapable of transforming him any longer! Watching her leave, Su Yu shook his head with a faint smile. Marquis Lanshan glanced in that direction and asked, "Human Master, should we capture her and bring her back?" "..." Su Yu was speechless. He chuckled, "Do you have nothing better to do? If you're that idle, spend your time cultivating until you reach the Eastern King's level. I'm entrusting the Eastern King domain to you; don't make a mess of it!" "Your subordinate would not dare!" Su Yu said no more. By now, they had nearly reached the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, which meant they were approaching the Old Turtle's domain! It was time for him to ascend! Within the dead spirit realm, the other three Heavenly Kings had not shown themselves. It was unclear whether they were busy assimilating the Dao power released upon the Eastern King's death or simply biding their time to observe the situation. "I'm heading to the Eastern King Residence... actually, never mind. Take my Human Master Seal and go to the Eastern King Residence yourself. I will locate the coordinates on my own and open a passageway there!" Su Yu gave his instructions and handed the seal to Marquis Lanshan, adding, "Also, dispatch people to recruit human marquises! We have only taken a quarter of the dead spirit realm; who knows what the rest of the realm looks like! "If you encounter danger, do not fight to the death. Retreat with your forces! Fall back to the Spirit Suppression Domain and seek help from Senior Hongmeng and the others! "Don't get all my troops killed!" Su Yu genuinely worried she might act recklessly. He quickly added, "Hetu, go assist Marquis Lanshan! Your head is more flexible than hers!" From the rear, Hetu chuckled. "Sure thing, but... well... I need an official title, don't I?" Su Yu smiled. "A title? Then I appoint you as the Army Supervisor of the Eastern King Residence. Your strength is lacking right now, but once you become strong enough, I will enfeoff you as a marquis! If you can reach the level your ancestor once achieved, I will crown you a king!" Hetu beamed. "Are you serious?" "Naturally!" Su Yu said calmly, "If the heavens are unified once more, I shall enfeoff all beneath heaven anew! However, that time has not yet come!" *Unify heaven and earth!* *Enfeoff anew!* At that moment, even several dead spirit monarchs were visibly moved. Did this newly arrived Human Master truly intend to unite all under heaven? What towering ambition! Without another word, Su Yu beckoned toward the heavens. Countless wisps of death qi converged, instantly solidifying into a single page. Raising his hand, the Tombstone of Civilizations transformed into a brush. He swiftly penned several characters, then brought the Human Master Seal down through the air with a resonant stamp! At that instant, a ghostly glow flared across Hetu's body! Su Yu chuckled. "There! Satisfied now?" Hetu received the document and looked upon it, his heart churning with complex emotions. After a long pause, he dropped to one knee and said in a deep voice, "Hetu, Army Supervisor of the Eastern King Residence, accepts the command!" "Rise!" Su Yu waved a hand, glanced at the dead spirit army trailing behind, and instructed, "Lead them back to the Eastern King Residence. When crossing the river, suppress it with the Human Master Seal! The Eastern King Seal is of little use against the Dead Spirit Heavenly River!" With that, Su Yu gazed toward Hetu's former kingdom; beyond lay the Old Turtle's domain. He needed to head out first! He had to delineate enough divine characters! Then, he would temper those characters and step into Dao Fusion. After that, he would strengthen the Great Qin King and the others, liberate the guardians, and launch the second grand war! *** A short while later. Su Yu stepped out from the passageway within Hongmeng Ancient City. He was entirely alone; the others were still handling affairs below. This time, when the Old Turtle saw him, a flicker of complicated emotion crossed his gaze. After a moment, he bowed slightly. "Subject Hongmeng, General of Spirit Suppression under King Gong, pays respects to the Human Master!" "Senior, you are far too polite!" Su Yu chuckled, offering a supporting hand. The Old Turtle sighed with emotion. "Etiquette must not be discarded! Now, the Spirit Suppression Army has returned to human rule. You are young, while we are old. If I show disrespect, then whenever others come to submit in the future, they too will act without respect... If even I show reverence to the Human Master, no one else has the right to be insolent!" The Old Turtle smiled. "Unless their seniority outstrips mine and their strength surpasses mine! Although I was merely a titled general, the Spirit Suppression Army I led back then was no weaker than the forces beneath many enfeoffed marquises! I was the foremost vanguard general under King Gong, superior to many marquises! Even if the ancient human marquises emerge, they have no right to flaunt their age before me!" Su Yu smiled! His smile was radiant. "Senior, you have put great thought into this!" "It is only right!" The Old Turtle also smiled. "Slaying the Eastern King this time eliminated a major threat for me as well! As for the other three Heavenly Kings, the Northern King and Western King harbor resentment toward human rule, but the Southern King once contacted me... Now, by joining hands with the Southern King, we can contend with both of them! Rest assured regarding the dead spirit realm; so long as I and the Southern King live, we should be able to suppress it!" Pausing, he knit his brow slightly. "My only concern lies beyond the Four Kings' domains... The dead spirit realm is vast beyond measure, boundless and endless. Beyond the Four Kings' domains lie ownerless lands that even I have never explored! Additionally, I worry that formidable ancient experts may awaken within the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, stirring up trouble!" Su Yu nodded. "I will keep an eye on those matters as well! The top priority right now is to liberate the guardians, which requires thirty-five Eternals! As for you, Senior, I fear I cannot liberate you just yet; I lack the authority to relieve you of your duties!" The Old Turtle could unseal the other guardians himself, but the Old Turtle had been personally appointed by King Gong and confirmed under the Human Sovereign's imperial seal. Su Yu lacked the authority to release him! The Old Turtle laughed. "I cannot leave anyway. If I leave, the Spirit Suppression Domain cannot be held down, and that would spell disaster! Besides, stripped of my official post, I would be no match for the four Heavenly Kings!" Su Yu nodded slightly and smiled. "Then I shall return to the Human Realm first! I leave the dead spirit realm in your capable hands, Senior!" "It is my duty!" Without further words, Su Yu stepped into the air and departed! Watching his back as he left, the Old Turtle was filled with profound emotion. The aura Su Yu radiated felt increasingly transcendent! It was not that his strength was beyond matching, but rather his bearing. To tell the truth, the moment he had laid eyes on Su Yu just now, he had felt a striking resemblance: King Wen! No wonder Marquis Jiantian had been so terrified! If Su Yu possessed strength matching King Wen's right now, anyone seeing him would truly believe King Wen had returned. The Old Turtle suddenly found himself vaguely looking forward to something... If Su Yu and King Wen ever met face to face, what kind of scene would that be? It would surely be fascinating! *** Su Yu had no interest in pondering such matters. Tearing open the void, he surveyed heaven and earth. The River of Time stretched across the cosmos, appearing breathtakingly beautiful to his eyes! After unifying his Heavenly Gate, the scenery he perceived had transformed entirely! "Truly magnificent!" Su Yu murmured in awe, then instantly descended into the Human Realm passageway. Inside the Human Realm. King Dazhou was still conjuring rain, as the ten-day period had not yet elapsed. At that moment, he suddenly looked toward a certain direction, his expression shifting abruptly! Far in the distance, a figure clad in immaculate white robes strode through the air. For a fleeting second, King Dazhou felt a wave of dazed disorientation. "Su Yu?" He muttered under his breath, and in the next heartbeat, his face changed again! It was indeed Su Yu! Yet Su Yu had not torn through the void to travel. Beneath his feet, he seemed to tread upon something faintly luminous, striding forward atop a radiant glow! King Dazhou froze, and after a long pause, sheer horror gripped him. "Is that... traveling downstream?" *Downstream along the River of Time?* Divine radiance flared in his eyes as he peered in that direction. He vaguely perceived a great river, and atop its waters strode Su Yu at an astonishing speed! With peerless velocity, Su Yu materialized directly before him in an instant! "King Dazhou!" A low shout snapped King Dazhou from his stupor. His face drained of color—so fast! "Su... Emperor Yu!" King Dazhou forced the words out with difficulty! The Heavenly Gate at Su Yu's brow opened wide, fixing its gaze upon him. In that instant, an icy chill gripped King Dazhou from head to toe. Su Yu observed him for several moments before speaking slowly: "Not bad at all. You achieved Dao Integration through divine characters, and the path you tread is the Great Dao of Endurance! Knowing how to endure and bide your time is a good thing! I had thought you walked the Dao of Stillness." Su Yu wore an indifferent, placid expression. Yet waves of shock crashed through King Dazhou's heart! *He saw through it!* *He actually saw through it!* Su Yu said coolly, "The Dao of Endurance is respectable, but in my view, mastering it fully will prove difficult for you! It is quite possible that its Ruler of Rules has yet to perish! You are already approaching the peak of Dao Integration—somewhat stronger than I anticipated, but... not beyond my imagination!" With a light chuckle, Su Yu vanished on the spot, continuing his stride through the air along the River of Time. Before long, he plunged into a cascading waterfall. Yet his voice drifted back along the River of Time, echoing clearly: "Summon all Eternals of the Human Realm to await me at Starfall Mountain!" "...Understood!" King Dazhou replied, trembling with shock and a profound sense of helplessness. *What in the world has changed about Su Yu?* Just now, in that fleeting instant, he had felt as though every secret within him had been laid completely bare! Could this... Heavenly Gate... be the legendary Heavenly Gate Unification? *With the Heavenly Gate unified, nothing under heaven can remain hidden!*