Ninety-Nine Divine Characters Complete!

Regardless of what came next, now that the Five Elements Divine Art had been revealed, the experts of the Five Elements race were overjoyed! As for the rule punishment, Su Yu had said he would bear it himself. That way, casualties could be avoided. Of course, no one knew for certain whether Su Yu could actually withstand it. Rule punishments were never weak. Seal the realm! This was Su Yu's demand, and it aligned with the ancestors' own thinking. From this moment forth, the Five Elements Realm would be closed to the outside world, and the Five Elements Divine Art would be taught broadly. Soon enough, the geniuses and veterans of the Five Elements race might successfully master it. …… The ancestors of the Five Elements race hurried off to make arrangements. Su Yu, meanwhile, remained in the Five Elements Palace. He did not allow anyone to keep him company, merely lying back in the courtyard of the palace and observing the Great Dao of the Five Elements race. The Five Elements Great Dao! Five elements unified! Ever since opening the Heavenly Gate, Su Yu could see far too much. That included this Five Elements Great Dao, which was exceptionally clear from within the Five Elements Realm, as everyone in this realm cultivated along it. From the very beginning of its tributaries, someone had split this Dao into five distinct paths. Even so, certain connections still remained between them. Su Yu observed the links between these branches, pondering how to enable the experts of the Five Elements race to smoothly fuse with one another and coordinate their combat. That would still require some careful thought. At the same time, Su Yu himself was comprehending this Dao. The Five Elements Great Dao was remarkably broad, ranking near the top among all the Great Daos he had seen so far. By now, he had observed quite a few Daos. "Five elements divine characters... The five elements divine characters I comprehended actually represent the separated five elements Daos! But the Five Elements race is different; there are distinct variations between them." Su Yu reflected silently. The Five Elements race possessed natural racial abilities across all five branches. As things stood, each counted as an isolated path of the five elements. If this went on for many more years, they might eventually sever the Five Elements Great Dao entirely, reducing it to mere individual elemental paths. When that time came, the potential of the Five Elements race would decline. "The interesting question is: did the expert who originally split this Dao lack the power to shatter it completely, or was it divided intentionally?" Being unable to shatter it would make sense. A Great Dao possessed immense power; one did not necessarily have to break an entire Dao to kill someone. Obliterating everything someone had anchored to the Dao was more than enough to end their life. "Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal..." Su Yu pondered continuously. In the next moment, he suddenly tore open the River of Time and vanished from the spot, intending to travel to the source of the Five Elements Great Dao to inspect its state. Lately, several of his familiar racial abilities had transformed into divine characters. He was currently short eight divine characters, having hit a slight plateau in his comprehension. Examining these Great Daos would deepen his insight. …… Within the River of Time, Su Yu rose and fell beside the tributary of the Five Elements Great Dao like a solitary skiff on turbulent water. After a long while, Su Yu sat down cross-legged in the river and began his contemplation. At this moment, if any supreme expert were roaming the River of Time, they might spot Su Yu within its currents. A person from the past might even see the future Su Yu—provided, of course, that they had traveled forward countless years into the future themselves. While contemplating, Su Yu turned a question over in his mind. If I drift downstream along the River of Time, will I arrive in the future? Not by time travel, but simply by spending countless years inside the river? "Fascinating!" Su Yu murmured to himself. He wondered where the Human Sovereign truly was. Where was King Wen? Could they... could they be fighting inside the River of Time? "If they are fighting in the River of Time, that would explain it. They wouldn't have fought for a full hundred thousand years; rather, they would be fighting while drifting downstream. That way, when they emerge, it will be the future!" If you constantly drift downstream in the River of Time, you are essentially chasing time. What feels like a single day to you might be a year in the outside world! If you walk upstream, a day to you might only be an hour outside, yet time inevitably continues to slip away. That flow cannot be reversed! The more he thought, the more shaken Su Yu became. He opened his eyes and gazed at the colossal river. Consider this hypothesis: if, a hundred thousand years ago, the Human Sovereign had led countless experts into the River of Time and drifted downstream, they would have been fighting inside it this entire time. To them, perhaps only several centuries had passed, but in reality, they were chasing time! In the outside world, a hundred thousand years had already slipped by! "Is that possible?" Su Yu looked toward the past. For the Human Sovereign and his companions, they were fighting toward the future; for Su Yu, if this held true, the Human Sovereign and the others existed in his past and were still marching toward the future. Su Yu rose and looked at the surging waves of the great river, gazing upstream into the past. He even wondered whether, one day, the Human Sovereign and his comrades might suddenly appear in this river, locked in a battle that had spanned countless ages! In their perception, perhaps only a few centuries—or even decades—had elapsed? "If so, that would truly be fascinating!" "Could King Wen be doing the same?" "Are they all in the River of Time, battling enemies, yet permanently existing in my past? Only by breaking through their constraints and riding the current downstream can they meet me?" At this moment, Su Yu felt a daze wash over him. The River of Time was truly miraculous! Right then, a divine character took shape in Su Yu's mind. It was not converted from a racial ability. Instead, it was born from Su Yu's own understanding of time. At this moment, the character for "Fast" materialized. This formed a pair with the "Slow" character he had comprehended earlier. The ninety-second divine character had formed! Su Yu was not surprised. This was the nature of the Great Dao. He was currently contemplating the Dao at its very source; with sudden enlightenment, he could naturally draw upon the power of rules to help forge a divine character. "Fast and slow are merely ways time elapses. Little King Zhou's time acceleration is ultimately just an illusion of speed..." "Fast" and "Slow" did not encompass time in its entirety; they merely reflected Su Yu's personal insights. Before long, Su Yu turned his gaze back to the Five Elements Great Dao. He continued his observation and contemplation. Within his mind, Book Spirit continued reading aloud to him, the resonant tones echoing like a grand bell, constantly prompting Su Yu's insights. "Five elements unified: metal, wood, water, fire, earth... No, there are other elements in this world, such as wind and lightning... Wait, that's not right either. When it comes to fundamental elements... there should also be yin and yang! Life and death!" Yin and yang, life and death! This Dao of the unified five elements granted Su Yu an abundance of inspiration. Since he had already comprehended the character for "Death," that character ought to have an opposing counterpart: Life! Endless vitality! Life, the resurgence of all things. The fusion of the five elements even sparked an extraordinary notion in Su Yu's mind. If this was merely the union of five elements, what would happen if all the elements in heaven and earth merged into one, returning to the state before the opening of the cosmos? Would that also be a Dao? Before heaven and earth opened, when all was turbid chaos, what kind of Dao was that? "Cosmos! The universe!" The concept of the universe had emerged long ago: space in all four directions is 'Yu,' and time through past and present is 'Zhou'! A chaotic void with no passage of time ought to be counted as Yu! Nothing but the expanse of heaven and earth in all directions! "Yu!" Su Yu froze slightly. 'Yu'... this character was exceedingly fascinating. The Star Residence Mansion was said to be related to the Human Sovereign. And he himself took the title Emperor Yu. It was an enormous name. Normally, 'Yu' did not seem remarkable, but when you truly contemplated the Great Dao, you would discover that 'Yu' encompassed far too much! All heaven and earth across the four quarters fell within the bounds of Yu! 'Zhou' was immense as well, but 'Zhou' represented time. When heaven and earth first opened, the concept of time did not yet exist. In truth, 'Zhou' was slightly lesser than 'Yu'; only when the concept of time emerged was 'Zhou' born! "So everything was predestined all along—all of heaven and earth in the four quarters should belong to me, Su Yu?" Su Yu grinned! At this moment, he felt on the verge of grasping something, poised to comprehend a new divine character. Su Yu knew it was likely the character "Yu." However, something was still lacking. "Life and death, yin and yang—I haven't fully grasped them yet!" He already had a line of thought, a set of ideas. The Immortal race's Life Force Stimulation Method, which he had long studied, was now birthing life force within him. Su Yu felt a subtle tremor in his heart. The Immortal race was formidable, likely because their Dao was connected to 'Life.' The Dao of Life was extraordinarily powerful! The Immortal race embodied vitality! That was why they lived so long and possessed such rich life force. "If the Immortal race opened up the Dao of Life, then the Celestial River of Dead Spirits corresponds to the Dao of Death. There is a gulf between the two Daos, and even if that gulf is vast, the Immortal Emperor's strength cannot be underestimated. Yet back then, King Wen suppressed him and forced his surrender..." Historical records noted how King Wen had subjugated the Immortal Realm: he had shattered several of the Immortal race's Great Daos, forcing the Immortal Emperor to yield. This revealed a great deal. King Wen had shattered several of their Daos; why hadn't he simply killed the Immortal Emperor? Perhaps... he was too difficult to kill! Furthermore, did those shattered Daos belong to the Immortal Emperor himself, or had King Wen slain the Immortal race's Rule Masters? Had the Immortal race possessed multiple Rule Masters at first, only for the Immortal Emperor to compromise after several of them were slaughtered? "The ancient era grows more interesting by the moment!" Carrying these thoughts, another divine character was born: "Life." In an instant, Su Yu overflowed with boundless vitality. The ninety-third divine character! "Still not enough. It's not yet sufficient to birth the character 'Yu'!" It was not complete! His divine characters still lacked critical elements. Su Yu gazed at the Five Elements Great Dao with deep sentiment. This time, looking up at the heavens, he had seen something new. It gave him fresh insights into his own Dao. He retrieved the civilization chronicle, the weapon of his personal Dao attainment. "Civilization, life and death, yin and yang, the five elements..." Su Yu murmured to himself, "In truth, this is reconstructing a world! Reopening heaven and earth!" "If I reopen heaven and earth, will a brand-new Dao of Time be born?" "The Time Master might have realized this, which is why she created the Time Record... Yes, that must be it! She was opening a world!" "Yet even the Time Master failed to bring it to completion..." Thoughts surfaced one after another. Su Yu proceeded to comprehend combat techniques related to yin and yang. He knew countless battle arts, and he swiftly selected several. The pressing priority was not making each divine character immensely powerful, but bringing the total count to ninety-nine. Sitting cross-legged in the River of Time, he began running through martial techniques! Afterimage upon afterimage manifested within the river. After an unknown length of time, divine characters began taking shape in Su Yu's mind. Unlike those derived from pure contemplation, these battle-art divine characters were exceptionally potent from the moment of their inception. "Yin and Yang!" In that moment, Su Yu comprehended the two characters "Yin" and "Yang." He had now outlined ninety-five divine characters! Life, death, yin, and yang were all complete, yet the character "Yu" still could not form. "Right, there's still heaven and earth!" Yu encompassed all space across the four quarters; a 'Yu' without heaven and earth would never be whole. There had to be heaven, earth, life and death, yin and yang, and the five elements. Only then could 'Yu' truly exist. Having found his direction, Su Yu resumed his contemplation. Heaven and earth—these two characters were also unimaginably vast. Yet narrowing the focus made it manageable; it did not need to be overwhelmingly grandiose, just a small domain of heaven and earth. Earth could be born from soil, while heaven could arise from clouds, water, and qi... Su Yu used his own comprehension to grasp these concepts, breaking vast macro-level concepts into smaller, digestible components. That way, he could use combat techniques to compensate, comprehend, and cultivate. He began running through battle arts once more! Using the "Earth" character of the five elements to derive the broader character for "Ground." Su Yu succeeded! Right now, he was beside the Five Elements Great Dao, making comprehension even simpler. After some time, Su Yu unleashed a technique. A patch of land manifested in the River of Time, only to be obliterated by the currents an instant later! That did not matter! What mattered was that another divine character surfaced. The ninety-sixth divine character—Ground! "I feel success within my grasp. Next is Heaven, and the foundation of Heaven is qi..." Qi truly existed. Many combat techniques drew upon various types of qi. Su Yu continued breaking down these insights to comprehend them. He cultivated several battle arts related to qi. This was Su Yu's first time rigorously deriving divine character rules before combining distinct rules into entirely new ones. He was no longer blindly sketching divine characters as he had in the past. Now, he grasped the underlying essence. After another span of time, the ninety-seventh divine character was successfully outlined—Qi! A smile appeared on Su Yu's face! Ninety-nine divine characters were about to be completed. He had already decided what the ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth characters would be: one for "Heaven," and one for "Yu." Furthermore, within the Civilization Tombstone, there remained a divine character left behind by King Wen as a guide to the Brush Dao. Su Yu still did not know which character it was, but he understood that once he finished outlining ninety-nine divine characters, that character would reveal itself. Serving as the core of the Brush Dao, it would absorb and fuse the ninety-nine divine characters, strengthening them and drawing them together. Once they grew powerful enough, it would lead Su Yu to merge with the Brush Dao! At this very moment, Su Yu understood all of this with absolute clarity. With the Qi character completed, the Heaven character was not far behind. Su Yu pressed on with his comprehension, practicing various combat techniques. The pressure grew steadily heavier; lingering in the River of Time for so long exacted a severe toll, yet this place brought him closest to the Great Dao, so he chose to keep practicing here. Without him realizing, the ninety-eighth divine character appeared—Heaven! The instant this character materialized, Su Yu's Heavenly Gate trembled! The final character, "Yu," seemed eager to emerge naturally! Yet it was still not enough! Su Yu already sensed the deficiency: it was not a lack of comprehension, but a lack of power. He required tremendous power! Without another word, Su Yu tore through the River of Time and departed swiftly. He needed rule power! There was an abundance of rule power within the River of Time, but Su Yu could not extract it. Having not yet integrated into a Dao, he had no way to siphon rule power directly from the river. …… In the outside world. Eight days had already passed. Over those eight days, the Five Elements Realm remained sealed. The ancestors of the Five Elements race gathered in the Five Elements Palace once again, looking thoroughly helpless. Su Yu had vanished. They had no idea where he had gone or whether he had left; he had simply disappeared out of nowhere! Just like those ancient figures, gone without a trace! The realm passageways were completely sealed, and an Invincible was personally standing guard, yet none had seen Su Yu. The Fire Ancestor grumbled, feeling thoroughly stifled, "Didn't he agree to block the rule punishment for us right here? I've already opened all my divine apertures and am just waiting to circulate the art. Should I circulate it or not?" "If we withstand the rule punishment ourselves, won't he come back and find an excuse to make trouble?" Not to mention others, but the five of them had already opened nearly all their divine apertures beforehand. They had only been short a handful. Opening a few apertures over these past few days was easy enough. The crucial question was: now that their apertures were open, dared they circulate the cultivation art? Su Yu was nowhere to be found! "Ancestor, please remain calm!" Foutuling offered a word of comfort, though he was equally speechless. Su Yu was growing more and more mysterious by the day. Vanishing whenever he pleased! Just like the way he had arrived. Right as Foutuling finished calming the Fire Ancestor and began turning thoughts over in his head, the void abruptly split open! Su Yu stepped out! The moment Su Yu appeared, everyone stared at him, momentarily stunned. Previously, Su Yu had been domineering, powerful, and mysterious, which everyone could sense, but not to this degree. Now, Su Yu's aura surged without pause, instantly giving them the impression that the man standing before them was like an entire universe, bearing an ambition to sweep across and swallow all under heaven! "Circulate the art!" Su Yu wasted no words. He needed to devour rule power to finish outlining his final divine character! The character "Yu." "Well..." "Just obey the command!" Su Yu snapped in a low voice. Foutuling chimed in hurriedly, "Ancestor, circulate your art first!" The Fire Ancestor muttered secretly to himself. Fine, you said it! This fellow was truly overbearing. Whatever, I'll circulate it then! He was an Eternal ninth-stage expert; once his technique took form, the punishment was bound to be formidable! Sure enough, as he circulated his apertures, his originally pure fire-element power began spawning other energies. All five elements were present, though the other four remained extremely faint! This was precisely why Su Yu had them cultivate the Five Elements Divine Art: to lay the foundation for their future coordination as a group of five. If all of them cultivated the Five Elements Divine Art, their degree of fusion would be high, preventing major repulsion. At that moment, a crimson cloud abruptly gathered in the void. The Fire Ancestor felt an immense, stifling pressure! Before he could think further, Su Yu vanished, reappearing right beside the cloud. Su Yu opened his Heavenly Gate and peered into the cloud. It was rule power! Yet it was ferociously violent! Under normal circumstances, rule power like this could not be directly absorbed; in the past, Su Yu had always needed to neutralize it first. Yet now, brimming with raw might, Su Yu threw a punch straight into it—boom! A colossal roar rang out! A chunk of the blood cloud was torn away in an instant! The blood cloud condensed into a blood-colored humanoid, radiating furious intent, as if outraged that someone dared defy the rules. It lunged straight at Su Yu! Su Yu ripped away a section of the blood cloud with one hand, hesitated for a split second, and then cast all hesitation aside, forcefully devouring it! At this moment, his ninety-eight divine characters fused into his combat techniques. He was short just one character. That final character was already hovering on the verge of emergence, yet it simply could not manifest due to a lack of power! Now, the energy of the blood cloud flooded in. Su Yu's ninety-eight divine characters began vibrating violently! Tearing, devouring, suppressing, purifying... A complete, seamless sequence! His ninety-eight divine characters possessed an overwhelming variety of attributes. In the blink of an eye, that violent rule power was suppressed and purified. In the next instant, a glimmer of light appeared at the foundational point of the ninety-ninth divine character, yet it was still not enough! It fell far short! It wasn't even enough to complete a single stroke! Su Yu continued tearing through the blood cloud, clashing fiercely with it across the void. This blood cloud was extraordinarily resilient, and seemingly enraged by Su Yu's interference, it grew steadily more ferocious! Rumble! Su Yu repeatedly tore into the blood cloud, relentlessly devouring it. This was his first time devouring punitive rule power so directly. Under ordinary circumstances, the backlash would have blown him apart. Not this time! 'Yu' meant heaven and earth across the four quarters, encompassing all things. Whatever I behold is mine; within heaven and earth, everything belongs to me! Su Yu was even considering that, once he mastered the Brush Dao, he must never abandon this divine character. 'Yu' was bound to be extraordinarily potent. This Dao was sure to be terrifyingly powerful! It might even subsume the Daos of all his other divine characters! Civilization, life and death, yin and yang—all were contained within it! "The core of the civilization chronicle should perhaps incorporate the character 'Yu.' The two characters of 'Civilization' seem vast, yet compared to the universe, they remain somewhat modest. To travel further, 'universe' is far better!" Yu represented space. Zhou represented time. The universe encompassed both space and time. At this moment, Su Yu faintly felt as though he had touched upon some fundamental truths of the myriad realms, touching the secret of the River of Time. Was the River of Time simply a world opened by an ancient expert who commanded the Dao of time, space, and cosmic creation? "The Time Master!" He thought of the Time Master once more. Had King Wen's sister comprehended this as well? If she had, then her path along this Dao would have been staggering. "The Time Master... No wonder she used that title. If it were me, I might have chosen it too!" With these thoughts, Su Yu continued battling the blood cloud. The clash raged on! The blood cloud grew smaller and smaller! Rule power was constantly devoured by Su Yu, but it was still insufficient. The strokes of "Yu" had begun to outline, yet only a tiny fraction had formed, and this wave of tribulation was already drawing to a close! Boom! With a thunderous rumble, the rule power dispersed! Su Yu was not meddling blindly. He was the root cause, so the punishment targeted both him and the Fire Ancestor; it did not count as an outsider intervening, which would have caused the rule punishment to escalate uncontrollably. Were that the case, Su Yu would not have intervened so recklessly, as an endless cascade of rule power would have ultimately cost him his life. "Next!" Su Yu barked a low command. Down below, seeing that the Fire Ancestor had successfully circulated the art and that faint traces of the other four elemental powers had appeared on him, Foutuling urged hurriedly, "Earth Ancestor, proceed!" The Earth Ancestor promptly began circulating the cultivation art as well. In the void, another blood humanoid coalesced! …… Su Yu did as before: tearing and devouring! Watching from below, everyone was awestruck. Eating punitive tribulations like casual meals—this guy Su Yu was truly terrifying! The Earth Ancestor finished circulating his art without needing further prompts from Su Yu. Soon, the Metal Ancestor followed. All five ancestors had already completed opening their divine apertures. Gradually, the character "Yu" within Su Yu's sea of will grew clearer and clearer. He had already achieved the necessary comprehension; all that remained lacking was rule power. Next came the Water Ancestor! Su Yu weathered tribulation after tribulation! In truth, he was shearing the sheep for its wool! Finally, the Wood Ancestor began circulating the art. …… The "Yu" character was still a fraction away from completion, steadily filling out! Five formidable Eternals undergoing tribulation, yet their combined power was barely enough for Su Yu to outline a single divine character. Such an occurrence was entirely unprecedented. As the Wood Ancestor's tribulation neared its end, Su Yu felt it. It was almost complete! The final sliver was being filled to the brim. The instant Su Yu thoroughly devoured the Wood Ancestor's tribulation blood humanoid, every single divine character within his sea of will began to shudder! Violent trembling! At that moment, a divine character erupted with boundless radiance, blanketing heaven and earth! The sky went dark! Yes, the Five Elements Realm, which had been bright daylight just moments before, plunged into darkness. The influence of the "Yu" character! Swallowing the cosmos! …… "This..." Below, the ancestors of the Five Elements race and Foutuling were completely shaken. The moment Su Yu's divine character was born, the sky had actually gone pitch-black! They felt a vague, indescribable sensation, as if heaven and earth had returned to their primordial state before creation—or rather, as if they had stepped into the endless void. Yes! That was precisely the feeling. At this moment, the Five Elements Realm felt as though it had transformed into the boundless void! And amidst that void, Su Yu resembled the peerless expert who had first cleaved heaven and earth open! A beam of light burst forth from Su Yu's body! A terrifying aura erupted from him! Boom! The immense pressure forced heaven and earth from darkness back into blinding light! Shortly after, it turned dark once more! It looked as though Su Yu were splitting open a new cosmos! The ancestors were stunned beyond words, sending frantic voice transmissions to one another: "Just how strong is he now?" They truly had no idea what level Su Yu had reached! "Eternal?" "Dao Integration?" No one knew, but one thing was certain: Su Yu was far stronger than before! What a terrifying monster! He was growing stronger at a rate visible to the naked eye! Others saw their progress slow as they grew stronger, yet Su Yu only accelerated! That was because he had finally arrived at his harvest. Deepened comprehension of the Great Dao, full completion of aperture opening, and the full outlining of his divine characters—all of this was the fruition of Su Yu's diligent preparation! Opening 720 apertures: how many had accomplished that since ancient times? Because of it, Su Yu had manifested the Heavenly Gate. Outlining ninety-nine divine characters: how many had ever done the same? Thus, Su Yu set another unprecedented record, continually raising the upper ceiling of the Sun Moon Realm. Yes, the Sun Moon Realm. Even now, Su Yu had not integrated into any Dao, meaning he was still in the Sun Moon Realm. Yet looking back at such a Sun Moon cultivator, were the ancient Human Sovereign and King Wen truly stronger than Su Yu back then? Not necessarily! King Wen had inherited the Brush Dao, yes, but he had perfected it later on; it was impossible for King Wen to have been omnipotent from the very beginning. Su Yu was riding on the coattails of his predecessors, standing upon their shoulders to continue raising the upper limit of the Sun Moon Realm. That was how cultivation was meant to be: successors should grow increasingly stronger, not weaker! At this moment, Su Yu felt remarkably more powerful! With the ninety-ninth divine character completed, for a brief instant, Su Yu felt as though all heaven and earth belonged to him—a direct influence of the "Yu" character! Meanwhile, within his mind, the Civilization Tombstone... was about to shatter! At this moment, the combat technique formed by his divine characters resonated with the Civilization Tombstone, its colossal power seemingly tugging at something deep within. Was it going to shatter? Su Yu was reluctant to see that happen! It was not that he could not bear to lose a powerful weapon; rather, he knew that the Civilization Tombstone held the painstaking efforts of countless souls. King Wen had merely left behind the guiding divine character for the Brush Dao, yet his disciples had sacrificed their very lives to forge this tombstone. They had broken down their understanding of that divine character into countless combat techniques, waiting for future generations to comprehend them all! This was the legacy of their blood and sweat! Su Yu chose to preserve the Civilization Tombstone! Of course, he would draw out the divine character related to the Brush Dao. From now on, the Civilization Tombstone would serve simply as an inheritance stele for divine character battle arts! It would hold no more secrets within! Rumble! His sea of will shook violently. From the deepest depths of the Civilization Tombstone, amidst endless starlight, an enormous divine character shot forth. Su Yu saw it! That radiant sphere of light, bearing immense power, flew out from the Civilization Tombstone and soared straight toward Su Yu's divine character combat technique! The hundredth divine character! It was also the most critical one: the core divine character of the Brush Dao! It had been summoned by Su Yu! At this moment, the people of the Five Elements Realm felt as though they saw a brush spanning the void, spanning the myriad heavens, soaring out from the boundless river! Everyone was overwhelmed with shock! What was happening? A wave of dread rippled through them! The sky had suddenly turned dark, then bright, then dark again. Now, a brush—or perhaps a blade—seemed to emerge from the void. It was not a physical entity, but an ethereal phantom. …… Foutuling was shaken beyond words. What was this? What was Su Yu doing? At this moment, he could not fathom Su Yu at all. Nor was he alone; the five ancestors, having just survived their tribulations, were equally appalled. For a time, they did not know whether to rejoice or mourn! They rejoiced that they had allied with Su Yu. They mourned because... just how old was Su Yu? How could such a phenomenon occur around him? Had he comprehended something else entirely? Compared to him, the rest of them had truly wasted their long lives! Lived for nothing! …… At the same time. In King Wen's former residence. The little white dog suddenly looked up at the sky, gazing into the River of Time. It could not see with absolute clarity, but it seemed to perceive something nonetheless. It muttered softly, "Su Yu is about to inherit Master's Great Dao..." The Brush Dao was about to take form! …… In the boundless void. The Warden of Heaven abruptly raised his head to look at the darkened sky, his face filled with bottomless terror. In that brief moment just now, he seemed to have caught sight of a brush! Panic seized him! What was that? It looked so familiar! That... that was King Wen's brush! A single stroke to settle the realm! King Wen's brush had slain Rule Masters—and more than one! "King Wen... Su Yu..." The terror in the Warden of Heaven's eyes grew thicker and thicker. Could Su Yu... Impossible! There was no way Su Yu could integrate with King Wen's Great Dao! …… At the same time. In the Sea of Stars. The White Jade Gate trembled slightly. Inside the first level of the Star Residence Mansion, the eyes that had remained shut for so long suddenly snapped open! The Martial Emperor had opened his eyes! He had not actually wanted to open them! Yet at this moment, he had no choice. On his brow, the Heavenly Gate that had previously vanished suddenly reappeared! Above the Sea of Stars, the Heavenly Gate vanished in an instant, unseen by anyone. The Heavenly Gate surfaced! The Martial Emperor opened his eyes and gazed into the sky! The River of Time appeared. Before this, he had been unable to see it; now, he saw it clearly. In the distant depths of the River of Time, a colossal tributary seemed to be opening, surging with joy! "It's him!" The Martial Emperor felt a tremor in his heart. Was Su Yu about to inherit that man's Great Dao? The Brush Dao? A scene suddenly surfaced in the Martial Emperor's mind: a man dressed in snow-white robes, scholarly and refined. Smiling, he walked forward step by step toward him. No, not toward him. That was a scene from his memories! Dressed in snow-white, smiling broadly, King Wen walked toward a peerless expert. In his hand appeared a brush—except it was not a brush, but a Dao, wielded directly as a weapon by King Wen! A single stroke jabbed out! Heaven fell and earth cracked! The Great Dao shattered! Still smiling, King Wen shattered the opponent's Great Dao. Glancing from the corner of his eye at the Martial Emperor hiding in the distance, he smiled, put away his brush, and stepped across the void, departing into the distance! That had been a Rule Master! Slain on the spot just like that by King Wen! The Martial Emperor constantly cursed Taishan, yet he rarely cursed King Wen or the Human Sovereign. Even when he did, he only cursed them broadly without naming names, because... those two terrified him. With King Wu, you could see how strong he was and gauge his power. With those two, he could not fathom their depths. They seemed bottomless! "Su Yu..." The Martial Emperor murmured. He was about to step onto King Wen's Dao! That fellow had actually succeeded so quickly. Even the Martial Emperor had not anticipated this; it was simply too fast. How much longer would he need? If he mastered this Dao and became a Rule Master, then could he... could he truly contend with Su Yu? For a moment, the Martial Emperor was lost in a daze. Even if he managed to escape his imprisonment, if Su Yu became a Rule Master, he might not be able to defeat a Su Yu wielding the Brush Dao. …… Meanwhile. Across the myriad realms, several ancient eccentrics wore grim expressions. They could see nothing! Yet an overwhelming pressure bore down from every direction, as though portending something momentous! Tiangu and the others felt deep anxiety. A crisis had arrived! Could they not even hold out for the ten-year mark? A host of experts looked incomparably grave. Only a few days had passed! Since the last battle of Dao Combiners across the realms, barely over a month had elapsed—not even two full months! To them, that was no longer than a brief nap! Having lived for a hundred thousand years, did two months even count as time? If one were injured, two months was not even enough to heal! Yet today, a sense of dread gripped them all. Had Su Yu done something again? That was the only possibility they could conceive! Aside from Su Yu, who else could instill such unease and terror in their hearts? Tiangu and the others furrowed their brows, and at this moment, an identical thought crossed their minds: they might not make it until the Upper Realm opened!