Both Step into the Dao Joiner Realm

The Human Realm was unified! At this very moment, before this very scene, everyone knew that humanity was truly united! Unified in the truest sense of the word! There were no elders carping from the sidelines, no secret constraints behind the scenes; the Invincibles yielded, and Dao Joiners bowed their heads. Compared to the previous nine generations of Human Lords, Su Yu was unique. He was different! He had not been chosen by anyone to be the Human Lord. He had fought his way up step by step, slaughtering until King Dazhou and King Daqin felt they had no choice but to win him over and welcome him back to the Human Realm. Without the guidance of old fogies, relying solely on fortune, audacity, and sheer capability, he had seized the mantle of Human Lord from the outside in! He had continuously cowed those Invincibles who prided themselves on their seniority and status, intimidating them until they had no choice but to lower their heads—until it was impossible for them not to bow. Because the power in Su Yu’s grasp was vastly greater than that of the entire human race! He had slain the myriad races and breached the dead spirits; across the realms of both life and death, he reigned supreme! Fostering his own faction, expanding the forces backing him—all of this had made Su Yu so powerful that no one could oppose him. Within the massive canyon, Su Yu looked up at the sky. At that moment, a divine character manifested within his mind! “Emperor!” The Sovereign Dao! In the void, providence churned, roaring like a colossal dragon! The moment this divine character emerged, an aura of sovereign majesty radiated outward, unmatched in its overbearing might! Faintly, the River of Space and Time trembled. As the divine character appeared, Su Yu seemed to glimpse, in the far distance, a heaven-spanning Great Dao waiting for him! The Dao of the Human Sovereign? Perhaps! At the end of the River of Space and Time, perhaps the Human Sovereign had opened a path reaching into the heavens. Perhaps Su Yu had now caught some trace of it, and once this “Emperor” divine character grew potent enough, it would guide him to explore that Dao. Yet right now, it was clearly not enough! The divine character was not yet strong enough to guide Su Yu, nor was Su Yu himself necessarily capable of traversing the River of Space and Time to reach the domain where that Great Dao resided. This was Su Yu’s forty-sixth divine character! Su Yu was in no rush. He was continuously outlining divine characters; in merely a few days, he had already outlined over a dozen. The emergence of the Sovereign Dao only intensified the crushing pressure felt by everyone else! Su Yu said nothing more on the matter. The next moment, countless carriers flew out, and he barked, “King Tianzhu, by my order, forge an array foundation and bestow it upon King Daming!” “Forge a set of divine talismans and bestow it upon Manor Head Niu!” “Forge an abacus and bestow it upon Marquis Xia!” “Forge a whip and bestow it upon Manor Head Zhu!” “Forge a pair of gauntlets and bestow it upon Nan Wujiang!” “Forge a short sword and bestow it upon Yun Chen!” “Forge...” King Tianzhu’s grin split wide open, exposing his teeth. I get to forge so many armaments? So many carriers for me to forge with? A moment later, his smile vanished. Su Yu said coldly, “Within three months, complete all the forging. Every armament must be at least mid-rank Heaven grade! High rank is preferred, and peak rank will be rewarded!” “...” Three months! Su Yu had rattled off more than a dozen armaments in one breath, turning King Tianzhu’s face purple. Lord have mercy! These are Heaven armaments, not Earth armaments! Over a dozen Heaven armaments in three months, and at least mid-rank Heaven grade? On average, that meant producing a full Heaven armament every five days! Are you kidding me?! I’m going to drop dead! Su Yu quickly added, “Summon all armamentsmiths of the human race. Whether for menial tasks or refining, every human armamentsmith is at your disposal for the next three months! Every manor will cooperate, and all armamentsmiths are hereby conscripted into the army!” “No one may make excuses. Violators will be... executed!” “We establish the Armament Bureau! Tianzhu will serve as Bureau Chief, Zhao Tianbing as Deputy, and Zhao Li as Inspector of the Armament Bureau, overseeing its operations!” “Within three months, I want to see everything I just demanded completed. Furthermore, the rest of the Eternals who believe they have expertise in a particular Dao will be registered. Those with merit will be rewarded; no merit, no reward!” “Tianzhu, do you have any objections?” How could King Tianzhu dare have any objections? Su Yu had made it clear: disobedience meant death. Conscripting all armamentsmiths across the entire human race meant countless helpers, which made the workload manageable. The crucial part was that the primary materials were all provided—the sight of so many carriers nearly drove him mad with excitement! There were at least close to a thousand pieces! Su Yu continued, “Miecan, Xia Longwu, launch your battles at once. I want to see Sun-Moons emerge! The Manor Heads of the thirty-six manors are all at the Sun-Moon realm and are subject to immediate deployment. Strive to step into the Dao Merging realm as early as possible!” “Below the Eternal realm, the campaigning generals may reassign troops at any time! No great manor may obstruct them!” “...” Su Yu issued order after order. Out of forty-three Eternals, he had arranged for fewer than twenty to step onto new paths via the Weapon Integration Method. As for the rest... Su Yu made no arrangements and offered no further words. Merit brought rewards! Without merit, there was naturally no reward! Soon, however, Su Yu looked at those who remained and said in a heavy voice, “Right now, there is a task that requires Eternals! It carries tremendous merit. Complete this mission, and whether it is switching Daos or restoring your past and future incarnations, I will grant it to you!” At these words, the eyes of many brightened. What kind of task? As for Su Yu rewarding those other Eternals, everyone felt envious, but there was nothing they could do about it. Those people had either supported Su Yu from the beginning or belonged directly to the Multiple Divine Characters faction. You couldn’t be bitter about that! “Guard the dead spirit channels!” Su Yu said calmly, “I have already taken the dead spirit realm. Every dead spirit monarch has been conscripted by me, and the dead spirit armies have withdrawn! However, we require people to guard the channels to prevent newborn dead spirits from assaulting them. The requirements are not high, so you should be able to manage. The only concern is that I do not know the art of petrification! The corrosion of death qi will be far more agonizing than what the former guards endured. Low-stage Eternals might only hold out for about ten years before being overwhelmed; middle-stage Eternals might last thirty to fifty years before failing...” “However, I will strive to suppress the myriad worlds within ten years! If you are still alive by then, you will be rewarded according to your merit. At the very least, you will be granted the rank of Titled General!” “In normal times, you will also draw a stipend, treated entirely as combat-active Eternals!” “...” The crowd exchanged glances, their expressions turning solemn. Guard the channels! This... this was no small matter. Ten years. If Su Yu were gone after ten years, then... While they were still hesitating, Zhou Polong let out a soft sigh from the distance and spoke up: “This general is willing to go!” Su Yu disliked him! He knew this well. Clearly, Su Yu remembered the suppression of the Multiple Divine Characters faction over the years. Even though he was a member of the Zhou family, Su Yu showed him no special favor. What did the Zhou family matter anyway? Right now, even King Dazhou had been subdued by him! Zhou Polong knew that people might be reluctant to undertake this guard duty because the risk was too high. Yet he also knew that Su Yu needed people to step forward right now to relieve the original guards. He understood Su Yu’s intention: to liberate those high-stage combat forces! Beside him, Zhou Potian glanced at this nominal cousin of his. After a brief silence, he said in a deep voice, “This general, Zhou Potian, is also willing to go to the ancient cities to guard the dead spirit channels!” Two Invincibles of the Zhou family volunteered! They would liberate two high-stage guard combatants! Su Yu remained impassive, looking at the crowd. “Anyone else?” “Daliang is willing to go!” “Liu Wushen of Dahan is willing to go!” “...” One Invincible after another stepped forward. To swap out high-stage combat strength! A few veteran founding Manor Heads, feeling their own strength was mediocre, chose to serve as guards. There were also a few newly ascended Invincibles who felt their combat power was too weak and preferred to take up guard duty to win some opportunities for their respective manors. Before long, fourteen Invincibles had accepted the task! Yet Su Yu needed thirty-five Invincibles; fourteen was clearly not enough! Even so, Su Yu was already quite pleased. He smiled and said, “Then I must trouble you all! Guarding the dead spirit channels is difficult, yet there are benefits to it as well! In the future, you will understand!” With that, Su Yu added, “The fourteen Eternals departing this time are each rewarded one primary weapon for weapon integration! We will also forge ancient city armaments to suppress the channels! The original ancient cities were all formed from the integrated weapons of the other guards...” At this point, Su Yu quickly continued, “Tianzhu alone will likely find it difficult to forge so many armaments quickly...” Pondering a moment, Su Yu said, “The other guards all have experience with weapon integration. I will summon the sacred city guards to work together and forge new armaments for you, to suppress the dead spirits!” “We thank Emperor Yu!” The fourteen were quite delighted. In this manner, they had secured a powerful Heaven armament beforehand, and since it was a primary weapon for weapon integration, Su Yu would very likely guide them onto the path of weapon integration first! It was a fine outcome! To the side, King Tianzhu also breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, that task hadn’t been dumped on him; there were simply too many! Even with all the armamentsmiths of the Human Realm combined, he could not have completed such an assignment in time! Su Yu quickly added, “For the remaining spots, I will conscript some Eternals from our allied races to round out the thirty-five guards to suppress the dead spirit channels. I hope you will all work together with one heart!” “Understood!” The crowd received their orders one after another! In this way, most of the human Invincibles had been assigned tasks. Su Yu said no more. “King Daqin, King Daxia, come with me!” He wanted to take them first to fuse with the corpse of the Wild Heavenly Beast, and then to merge into its Great Dao. This would take time. Once he was done here and took a few Eternals through the River of Time, he would have to head to the Five Elements Realm! Going to the Five Elements Realm served two purposes: subduing them on one hand, and rounding out the thirty-five guards on the other. He was still short twenty-one. The Hou race had few Invincibles. The Iron-Eater race had a decent number, but if too many disappeared at once, it would easily be noticed. Su Yu planned to draw ten Eternals from the Iron-Eaters and the Hou. As for the remaining eleven... the Five Elements race was his target! The Five Elements race had few high-stage combatants, but they possessed a fair number of low- and mid-stage Eternals. Though the race lacked Dao Joiners, they had plenty of Eternals—at least a dozen or so, with two or three per branch, not counting those they kept hidden. Perhaps he could round up twenty Eternals from them! Using low-stage combatants to replace high-stage ones! Furthermore, even if they were unreliable, it did not matter. Once you left your post, the rules would punish you. In fact, it was more secure than sending them to battle—he could station individuals who were not entirely trustworthy to guard the dead spirit channels! Bound by the rules! This was Su Yu’s plan. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the opportunity to lead several Invincibles through the River of Time would also allow him to comprehend more combat techniques and divine characters. ... Soon, Su Yu led King Daqin and King Daxia into King Wen’s former residence. The little white dog did not come over, merely squatting by the entrance and watching from afar. When King Daxia and King Daqin caught sight of the little white dog in the distance, they took a sharp breath. An expert! A supreme expert! And the sound of reading emerging from that small courtyard shook both men to their core. Both Dao Joiner combat forces who had taken part in the previous battle were present. King Daqin looked toward Su Yu, who smiled and said, “That’s Feiqiu, King Wen’s dog! It doesn’t like other people entering King Wen’s house, so we can stay right here. You two don’t find this place too crude, do you?” Was there any room to complain? Calling it crude? It was just a hollow in the mountains with nothing in it—what was there to complain about! King Daqin didn’t mind this at all, asking instead, “Should we pay our respects?” “No need!” Su Yu smiled. “You two are both experts of the Physical Dao...” King Daxia felt somewhat dissatisfied and argued, “I am an expert of the Saber Dao! The name of the Xia Saber is known throughout the myriad worlds!” You’re the expert of the Physical Dao! I’m not! King Daqin had actually wanted to say he was an expert of the Spear Dao, but on second thought, he let it go. Never mind, I won’t bring it up right now. Su Yu smiled. “The Physical Dao is formidable and offers many advantages! In truth, the Physical Dao is also a heaven-spanning path! From what I currently know, this Dao ranks second across the myriad worlds!” “Second?” “Yes, the first is the Great Dao of Dead Spirits. Of course, you can forget about that one!” Su Yu smiled and continued, “However, this Dao is severely damaged. Furthermore, I suspect Hundred Battles King might not be dead. He might be suppressed, sealed away, or perhaps he simply betrayed humanity and fled... As a result, the remainder of that Dao is occupied by him, preventing anyone else from joining it!” “Betrayed?” King Daxia frowned. “That couldn’t be! Although we don’t know much about him, we know he was peerlessly valiant. If you say he was sealed, we’d believe it; if you say he died in battle, we’d believe that too. But to say he betrayed us... Su... Emperor Yu, that seems unlikely.” Could the Human Lord of the ninth tide truly have betrayed humanity? King Daxia found that hard to believe! King Daqin also said in a deep voice, “It’s best not to speculate too much on this matter. Old Zhou should be quite familiar with Hundred Battles King. Spreading such words could easily cause adverse reactions. I also lean toward him having either fallen in battle or been sealed away.” Su Yu chuckled. “Fine, I won’t make wild guesses! In my heart, I also lean toward him having fallen or been sealed. Let us speak no more of him! As for the Physical Dao, it currently has no future, unless someone repairs it!” “This time, I want both of you to switch Daos. It will still be a Physical Dao, but it likely won't belong to the human race!” Su Yu took a deep breath. “I want you two to switch Daos, switch physical forms, and transform into the physical bodies of primeval demon beasts!” He looked at the two of them and said earnestly, “I don’t want ordinary people to comprehend this Dao. If someone’s talent is too monstrous, they could easily become a Ruler of Rules directly—an ancient Human King! If such a person turns against humanity, or against me, it would pose an immense threat!” At these words, King Daqin immediately laughed. “Switch physical bodies?” “Yes!” “No problem!” “...” Su Yu stared at him. King Daqin acted as if it were nothing, and beside him, King Daxia said with equal nonchalance, “Let’s switch! What’s the big deal! To be honest, back when some fellows were cultivating divine characters, they even suggested discarding the physical body entirely! We actually considered altering our bloodlines before, because humanity had never been able to step into the Dao Joiner realm!” King Daxia explained, “In fact, back then we even discussed whether to steal the bloodlines of the Immortals, Demons, and Gods to carry out covert bloodline swaps. It was just that we looked down on ordinary bloodlines! You know about the Modification Department of the Great Xia Civilization Academy, Su Yu... cough, Emperor Yu, you know about it! It was because Lan Tian was so hell-bent on transforming that he ended up with a split personality later on!” He offered a few words of explanation, then added, “If you can guarantee that we have a strong chance of stepping into the Dao Joiner realm—a very high chance—and that our combat power will be greater than it is now, switching physical bodies is no issue at all!” He paused, then said, “There is only one thing: if you truly unify the world under heaven, you must make it clear that we are not half-breeds, nor are we crossbred with other races. We are human, and we chose to alter our bloodlines solely for the great cause of humanity!” “This matter must be recorded in human history!” King Daxia smiled. “Otherwise, we fear that one day, when times have changed, people will say King Daxia and King Daqin were half-bloods or even foreigners. That would be awful!” Su Yu had not expected the two of them to be so broad-minded! To be honest, transforming into the body and bloodline of a primeval demon beast was something Su Yu himself would find rather difficult to accept. He had been wracking his brain over how to persuade them! Yet here they were, raising no objections whatsoever. Su Yu immediately broke into a smile. “Then... the sacrifice you two are making is immense! I promise that if I am able to rewrite the rules, I will record this matter within the rules themselves! Any descendants of the Xia and Qin families who possess mixed bloodlines will be vindicated through rule rewards...” King Daqin said dryly, “There’s no need for that! It’s not as if we don’t have descendants. They are all pure-blooded humans. As for Old Xia and me, are we going to have more children at our age?” Forget about that! Leaving behind a clean reputation was enough! Su Yu smiled. “Hard to say! You two will live a very long time. Perhaps in a few hundred or a few thousand years, you’ll encounter someone who stirs your heart. Who knows what might happen then!” “...” King Daqin was speechless. “Old Xia might, but count me out.” King Daxia scoffed. “As if it’s impossible for you! If it’s impossible, did your two sons sprout from the ground? Did I bear them for you?” “Say that again?” “What if I do?” “...” Were these two about to come to blows? Su Yu was at a loss for words! He quickly interrupted the two of them, saying, “Since you have no objections, we can discuss that later!” With that, he brought out the corpse of the Wild Heavenly Beast. The next instant, the tiny corpse was released from its seal. In a flash, a terrifying, incomparable power shook the void! A colossal corpse hovered in midair. King Daxia, King Daqin, and even Su Yu could not help stepping back several paces, their faces filled with shock! So powerful! It was already dead, retaining only remnants of lingering will, yet its mere aura was still this overwhelming! Farther away, the little white dog barked a few times toward the sky. The aura expanding out of the valley was dispersed before it could even reach the flowers and grass outside the courtyard. The little white dog’s voice drifted over, tinged with a complaint: “Su Yu, don’t release it without warning! You almost ruined my flowers!” King Daxia and King Daqin were both struggling to resist that suffocating pressure. Seeing the little white dog suppress it with just a few barks, they were deeply shaken. This dog was truly terrifying! Su Yu also felt somewhat stifled by the overwhelming pressure. Hearing this, he immediately laughed and said, “Understood! I didn't expect the corpse’s pressure to be so ferocious just now!” Su Yu looked up at the colossal corpse above his head and inhaled sharply. “So this is a Ruler of Rules! Incredible! Even in death, as a mere corpse, it still exerts pressure on a ninth-stage Eternal!” Su Yu was truly awed; a Ruler of Rules was stronger than he had imagined! Or rather, the Wild Heavenly Beast had not been weak even during the ancient era, otherwise King Wen would not have personally stepped forward to slay it. There were plenty of ancient Human Kings, and King Wen was ranked first among them. His personal intervention meant that other Human Kings might not have been its match! Earlier, the Martial Emperor had said that thirty to fifty Dao Joiners would be needed to have any hope of fighting him... no, not even a guaranteed hope! When the Wild Heavenly Beast was alive, it might not have been inferior to him. Thirty to fifty Dao Joiners... Su Yu shuddered just thinking about how terrifying that was. And even then, victory was not guaranteed! Someone like the Eastern Heavenly King had already seemed absurdly strong to Su Yu, requiring five or six Dao Joiners to struggle against him. King Daqin was also taking sharp breaths at this moment. “This is a deceased Ruler of Rules? How strong must it have been alive? If it were alive, wouldn’t crushing us be child’s play? That ancient era... was too terrifying! How could such a horrifying ancient era collapse?” This was his first time witnessing the power of a Ruler of Rules! It was just a corpse! Yet even this left him feeling somewhat suffocated! King Daqin asked in awe, “The rumors say Hundred Battles King could rival a Human King. Does that mean he was at this level as well?” Su Yu chuckled. “Probably not that strong! Hundred Battles King walked the Physical Dao, and the Physical Dao cannot truly yield a Ruler of Rules. So he was probably... probably comparable to the Four Heavenly Kings of the dead spirit realm... No, perhaps somewhat stronger! I’ve heard he could fight over a dozen Dao Joiners, whereas the Eastern Heavenly King struggled against five...” In the distance, the little white dog happened to overhear and chimed in, “The Physical Dao rivaling an ancient Human King... that would probably put him among the weakest batch of Human Kings! That doesn’t count as a true Ruler of Rules. Su Yu comparing him to the dead spirit Heavenly Kings is fairly accurate! But to fight over a dozen Dao Joiners is quite impressive; he should be stronger than a dead spirit Heavenly King!” Su Yu smiled and asked, “How many Dao Joiners could King Wen fight?” The little white dog asked in bafflement, “What use are more Dao Joiners? He could kill a massive horde of them all at once. Why measure him against Dao Joiners?” “...” All right! Pretend I never asked. The little white dog added, “Master was the most formidable even among the Human Kings! Alone, he could fight many Human Kings! When Master attacked the Immortal Realm and the Demon Realm, he beat their sovereigns half to death! Their sovereigns were stronger than ordinary Human Kings, ordinary Human Kings were stronger than Physical Dao Human Kings, and Physical Dao Human Kings could fight many Dao Joiners... So, it was simply impossible for Dao Joiners to fight Master!” King Daqin and King Daxia felt as if they were listening to a myth! Such a powerful ancient era had actually perished! What a tragedy! At this moment, King Daxia could not help asking, “Senior, was my ancestor, Battle King, formidable?” “Battle King?” The little white dog replied across the distance, “Quite formidable! Beneath the Four Heavenly Kings of the Extremes, Battle King was among the most powerful batch! Among the Four Heavenly Kings of the Extremes, my master was the strongest, King Wu was second, and the remaining two were quite formidable as well, stronger than ordinary Half-Sovereigns! Battle King and his peers were stronger than ordinary councilors...” King Daxia nodded. Not bad! It seemed his ancestor had commanded considerable prestige in the ancient era! To his surprise, the little white dog suddenly added, “Battle King... I know a secret about Battle King. Battle King was ugly! Little Master mentioned it several times, and Master also told Battle King. Later, Battle King took many beautiful Dao companions, saying he wanted the next generation to be good-looking. Which Dao companion’s descendant are you?” “...” King Daxia said nothing. What kind of bizarre gossip was this? He didn't want to hear it! The little white dog continued, “You look rather ordinary too. You definitely aren’t from one of the later companions—Battle King’s later wives became more and more beautiful. Are you from one of the first ten companions?” “...” Su Yu and King Daqin looked at King Daxia with strange expressions, while King Daxia’s face darkened completely! King Daqin wanted to laugh so badly he could barely contain it! Fine, hold it in! Before they had accomplished anything here, they had been treated to a round of ancient gossip! It was hilarious! Su Yu was also speechless. “King Wu married a whole bunch, Battle King married a whole bunch, and I heard King Ming floated the Sea of Stars into the sky just to be romantic and please his Dao companion... The ancient era... heh, sure enough, those who take Dao companions tend to be a bit weaker!” “...” The two of them glared at Su Yu. That remark seemed to take a jab at them as well! Forget it, no point arguing with him. What did a young punk know! Su Yu said no more. Gossip was meant to be noted down; he knew plenty of gossip already. Lan Tian and King Miecan, Battle King being ugly, King Daxia claiming to be the handsomest man under heaven, King Wu marrying a heap of wives, King Ming being a hopeless simp, Hell King being a traitor, King Wen having a homicidal maniac for a sister... Had he ever spread these around? Not at all! And then there was the Martial Emperor having flowers planted on his rear—that was gossip too. My lips are sealed; I rarely speak of such things to outsiders. Right, the Qin family had gossip too, though Qin Zhen was a loudmouth who revealed it himself: he liked killing sweet young fairy maidens... Thought after thought surfaced. Su Yu felt that one day, he might write a chronicle. A chronicle of gossip about the experts of every era! How wonderful it would be to pass such things down. When writing history in the future, it would be best to record the kind of hidden gossip that only supreme experts could view, so posterity would remember. With these thoughts in mind, Su Yu drew his blade and got to work! He stabbed his blade toward the Wild Heavenly Beast suspended in the void! With that single thrust, Su Yu was forced back a step. He had only managed to leave a tiny nick on the flesh, which quickly began to regenerate. He couldn't help inhaling sharply. “Hasn't its armor already been stripped?” Even after having its armor peeled off and being slain, its physical body was still this resilient? Then while it was alive... a single slash from him wouldn’t even have breached its defenses. That was truly terrifying! The disparity was immense! Right now, even if Su Yu’s combat strength was not yet at the Dao Joiner level, ordinary ninth-stage Eternals were unconditionally inferior to him! King Daqin was considered the absolute pinnacle of the ninth stage, and Su Yu felt that without relying on any external aids, he could fight King Daqin to a standstill! With the Heavenly Gate open, his physical combat power had long surpassed a hundred million! At best, King Daqin was on par with him. Now that his three incarnations were shattered and he lacked the Guiyuan Saber, Su Yu should have no trouble defeating him! King Daqin was equally awed. Paying no mind to Su Yu’s inner thoughts, he inhaled sharply again. “This... won't be easy for us to fuse with!” “Not only that, there is still lingering will within it!” Su Yu said gravely, “I’m worried the two of you won't be able to endure it!” Ideally, this thing should be fused by a Dao Joiner! For anyone below the Dao Joiner realm, there was immense peril! King Daqin was no novice either. He glanced at King Daxia and said in a deep voice, “Lingering will? Good! Lingering will is also a means of tempering one's willpower! Experts like this are something you and I might never have the chance to witness again in our lifetimes! Old Xia, why don’t you and I drill into its belly, dissolve our bodies, and devour this Wild Heavenly Beast!” King Daxia bared his teeth. “Are you sure?” “You scared?” “Nonsense! If you dare, so do I! At least I have one more incarnation left than you do; my strength right now is greater than yours!” “Then cut the chatter. Su Yu, stop carving. Old Xia and I are crawling inside to devour this beast!” King Daqin was a ruthless man! Slicing it open would cause its blood and qi to leak, which was counterproductive. Better to crawl straight in and go for it! Su Yu furrowed his brows. In the distance, the little white dog spoke up again: “It’s fine if you go inside. In truth, the greatest hurdle is the lingering will. Melting your physical bodies won’t be an issue, but we must fear the lingering will blasting your seas of will apart. If you cannot withstand it, you might die in there!” “However, if you succeed, you two will almost certainly become Dao Joiners—the kind that joins via the Physical Dao! This Wild Heavenly Beast belonged to the Physical Dao, a path unique to its race!” “Its Dao is extraordinarily formidable. When Master killed it, he remarked on how impressive it was. Master never made a point of praising ordinary Rulers of Rules; typically, he simply shattered the opponent’s Great Dao, rarely preserving their inheritance!” In other words, whatever King Wen left behind was guaranteed to be top tier! “Even better!” King Daqin laughed and looked toward Su Yu. “Rest assured! We crawled our way out from piles of corpses too! To be blunt, we have lived on edge all these years, terrified that humanity might be wiped out any day! Now, you’ve gathered a host of powerful allies, but the saying holds true: those not of our race... I won't finish the phrase, but between different races, there will always be a rift!” “If we say humanity is the master, then right now the master is weak while the vassals are strong. That is not a good thing!” “Humanity must produce a few Dao Joiners of our own. Relying on Old Zhou alone won't do!” “Relying on you alone might not be a good thing either!” King Daqin laughed. “At the very least, people like us can provide some balance! Otherwise, if everything rests on you alone, should something happen to you or should you leave, that is when the greatest trouble will strike!” King Daqin took a deep breath. “You have prepared the Great Dao for us; all we have to do is endure this. If we can't even handle a small matter like this, we would be failing your goodwill! Old Xia and I aren’t that useless. The Qin Spear and the Xia Saber struck fear into the myriad worlds—that reputation wasn't unearned!” With those words, he flew straight into the open maw of the Wild Heavenly Beast! King Daxia laughed as well. “Running so fast! Wait for me!” The next instant, both of them entered the beast’s mouth! At that exact moment, a savage glint suddenly flared in the lifeless eyes of the Wild Heavenly Beast! Its jaws snapped shut in an instant! Su Yu was startled and was about to intervene when the little white dog trotted over, watched for a moment, and said, “Don’t move! They are fighting now! The lingering will remains. Those two want to seize its body, and the Wild Heavenly Beast naturally won’t agree; they have to fight it out! Winning is a good thing—they can smoothly claim the corpse. If they lose... even if they devour the flesh, they will face rejection from the beast’s Dao, making it difficult to merge!” Su Yu asked in a heavy voice, “Nothing will go wrong, right?” If King Daqin and King Daxia ended up dead because of him, it would be disastrous. Not only would it be impossible to explain to the world, but he would also never forgive himself! The little white dog shook its head. “I don’t know! We’ll just have to wait and see! The Daos Master left behind are not so easily inherited. If it were easy, you would have merged with yours long ago—why wait until now?” King Wen was hardly the sort of benevolent soul who arranged everything neatly for you to inherit. Su Yu’s Dao required the fusion of ninety-nine divine characters. The Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast was likewise monumentally difficult. As for the Dao within the Heaven Hunting Ranking, Marquis Jiantian had yet to claim it even now. The Ink Dao had taken Liu Hong an eternity to pursue, even venturing into the dead spirit realm to take risks. Which one of these inheritances wasn’t fraught with peril? Su Yu nodded and said no more. Taking a deep breath, he did not remain idle. Instead, under the pressure of the corpse, he began to practice combat techniques. Such pressure was ideal for honing techniques! Turning combat techniques into divine characters! Were it not for the worry that his body might not withstand it, he would have loved to swallow a drop of the Wild Heavenly Beast’s blood essence to test this race’s innate talents! On second thought, Su Yu abandoned the idea. Right now, he might be able to bear the power of the blood essence, but if it unleashed the full might of a Ruler of Rules, he would certainly be finished! King Daqin and King Daxia aimed to fuse, not simply devour; the two of them were transforming their physical bodies. Sharing the same human origin, they had greater resilience between them. Dividing and digesting it together, they might both ultimately step into the Dao Joiner realm. ... Inside King Wen’s former residence. Su Yu practiced his combat techniques, continuously transforming innate talents into divine characters. One day. Two days. Three days... For three consecutive days, Su Yu converted fourteen combat techniques into divine characters. Adding those to his existing ones, he now possessed sixty divine characters! Throughout these three days, neither King Daxia nor King Daqin emerged. The corpse of the Wild Heavenly Beast showed little change, yet faint, agonizing howls could be heard from within—King Daqin’s, King Daxia’s, and the Wild Heavenly Beast’s! They were fighting! Battling the lingering will! It had to be excruciatingly painful. Su Yu knew that even a hardened man like King Daqin was screaming in agony. Clearly, the torment was beyond ordinary endurance; on several occasions when King Daqin had nearly been killed in the past, he hadn’t let out a single cry! With a wicked sense of humor, Su Yu recorded the audio. He was utterly convinced the two would not die! Absolutely not! For no other reason than this: if things truly became perilous, he would rather cleave the corpse open to rescue them than let them continue fusing. Since that was the case... of course he had to record it, saving it for future gossip chronicles! In the year 352 of the Anping Calendar, King Daqin and King Daxia were beaten until they wailed miserably... The cries were fully recorded, sure to be remembered by future generations! ... This process lasted quite a long time. Ten full days passed! On the eleventh day, a massive disturbance erupted from within the corpse, rumbling continuously! The corpse’s oppressive aura also began dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye. Soon, it seemed the corpse was being consumed! The colossal body began to shrink rapidly! Accompanied by a tremendous roar and a deafening explosion, the belly of the corpse burst apart. King Daqin and King Daxia flew out, their auras overwhelmingly powerful, steeped in the ferocious might of primeval beasts! “I made it out alive!” King Daqin looked like a primeval monster, his murderous intent shaking the heavens, wildly ferocious! King Daxia was not one whit behind! At this moment, their eyes were savage to the extreme as they turned toward Su Yu. But very quickly, they froze, and their ferocity evaporated. Right now, Su Yu was holding a jade talisman, frantically recording them! He was even narrating: “Look, future generations! These are King Daqin and King Daxia! This is the sacrifice they made for humanity, devouring the corpse of the primeval Wild Heavenly Beast!” “Engaging in an eleven-day bitter struggle against the Wild Heavenly Beast, they paid an agonizing price. Let future generations remember the arduous efforts of these two seniors...” King Daqin and King Daxia both breathed a sigh of relief. So he was recording this for history—a good thing! The next instant, they heard Su Yu lower his voice: “They just came out, and their original physical bodies were corroded away earlier. It is only natural that they are wearing no clothes right now; everything was corroded to ash. A hero is not judged by his garments; even without clothes, they are still heroes!” “...” The next moment, the expressions of the two experts changed drastically! Damn you! The pain had been too intense, the exhilaration too great—they had completely forgotten about that! In an instant, origin qi coalesced into clothing. The next moment, the two primeval-beast-like experts lunged at Su Yu together! If they didn't destroy that recording talisman today, they wouldn't be able to live with themselves! Even if it meant insubordination, they were going to beat this bastard Su Yu to death! Hand it over! Otherwise, this was never going to end today! Rumble! The next moment, the three monstrously powerful figures clashed violently in the canyon. Su Yu also wanted to see just how strong they were after devouring the physical body, even before merging with the Great Dao! Yes, they had not merged with the Dao yet; the Great Dao was still in Su Yu’s possession! Rumble! None of the three used rule power. Relying purely on physical strength, they engaged in a brutal brawl within the canyon! They fought until heaven and earth seemed to turn upside down! The battle left the little white dog helpless. It hurriedly called upon the Book Spirit and the others to set up a protective barrier nearby, terrified that they would ruin its flowers and trees. If those precious plants were destroyed, the three of them wouldn't be able to pay for the damage. Meanwhile, the three fellows who had not yet merged with any Dao were trading frantic blows purely on the strength of their physical bodies! Su Yu unleashed countless combat techniques! He was familiarizing himself with his combat techniques, while King Daqin and King Daxia were familiarizing themselves with their new bodies. Formidable! Joining forces, the two actually managed to faintly suppress Su Yu. Yet Su Yu’s physical strength was comparable to a ninth-stage Eternal. Without using rule power, the two of them technically only counted as Sun-Moons, yet these three Sun-Moons were putting on a battle worthy of Dao Joiners right here! These were true primeval Sun-Moons, ancient Sun-Moons! The very peak of the tier, of course! King Daqin and King Daxia were not lacking in combat experience; it was merely that they had just fused with their new bodies and were unfamiliar with them. Both sides were honing themselves! Su Yu was mastering his combat techniques, while the other two were mastering their bodies. The battle raged for a long time, but in the end, Su Yu proved to have greater endurance. After all, the two had not merged with the Dao; strong as their bodies were, they were still slightly inferior to Su Yu’s current state. As the thunderous rumbles ceased, the two tumbled backward onto the ground. Su Yu panted for breath, but he broke into a grin! “I’m keeping this recording talisman! It’s a great watch!” King Daxia sneered, and King Daqin let out a cold snort. The next moment, a wisp of saber qi and a wisp of spear qi emerged from the recording talisman in Su Yu’s hand, detonating it with a bang! The three looked at each other and burst out laughing. It was done! Next, all that remained was merging with the Great Dao! Su Yu tossed out the Heaven and Earth Inkstone. The eyes of both King Daxia and King Daqin lit up—they felt it! They felt that profound sense of kinship! Merging with this Dao, they were guaranteed to become Dao Joiners! As for whether they could master the Great Dao and become Rulers of Rules, that would depend on luck! Moreover, both had the sensation that once they attained the Dao Joiner realm, they would be far stronger than ordinary Dao Joiners today. This Dao was formidable, and only the two of them would share it! The next instant, the three plunged into the River of Time together! Right here was the River of Time. The Heaven and Earth Inkstone guided the three of them toward the backyard of King Wen’s former residence, where a passage led to other reaches of the River of Time! Soon, they beheld the surging Great River! The Heaven and Earth Inkstone trembled with joy, leading them boldly forward until they quickly flew deep into the River of Time! And there, Su Yu saw for the first time what a sealed Great Dao truly looked like! It was far more advanced than Hell King’s! He saw a tributary, upon which strands of rule power hovered, seemingly left behind by King Wen, completely locking this tributary down! No matter who arrived, even if they comprehended it, there was no way to merge with this Dao! Only the Heaven and Earth Inkstone could do it! With a crash, the Heaven and Earth Inkstone shattered through those rule barriers without the slightest resistance, perfectly smooth. King Daqin and King Daxia exchanged glances, wild with excitement, and charged inside at once! To merge with the Dao! ... Su Yu waited outside for a while, observing and sensing this Great Dao. It was immensely thick! It was weaker than humanity’s Physical Dao, but among all the Daos he had witnessed, it ranked third! Third place for now! First was the Dead Spirit Dao, second was humanity’s Physical Dao, and third was this Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast! After an unknown stretch of time, two even mightier figures flew out of the tributary. Their auras had grown exceedingly terrifying, already surpassing Su Yu’s! King Daqin laughed boisterously: “I feel like I could go fight Tiangu right now!” Su Yu felt he was overestimating himself. Yet Su Yu also felt that with King Daqin’s current aura, he might truly stand a chance against Jiwu or Moji! Incredibly strong! King Daxia was slightly weaker; he could probably take on the Ape Sovereign? Whatever the case! In any event, the two had truly stepped into the Dao Joiner realm! Su Yu was overjoyed as well! Excellent! Success! Although he had not merged with a Dao yet, he would soon. Over these eleven days, his divine characters had reached ninety in number! On the way to the Five Elements Realm, he might be able to complete his comprehension! And then, he could go witness the Dao of the Brush! Hopefully, it would be stronger than the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast. Su Yu felt there was great hope for that; after all, it was King Wen’s signature Dao! “Humanity... has risen!” King Daqin and King Daxia laughed heartily! This time, both had succeeded, and they were thrilled beyond measure!